White Houses
by BakaKonekoRKL
Summary: When 8 teens are left alone in a summer house for 5 weeks, friendships form, humor ensues and hearts are broken. Hints at all possible pairings, but which ones will actually happen? Strong in TamaHaru, HikaKao KyouHaru and RengeHaru. Songfic; AU Complete
1. Little Bungalow

**HOLY FUHSNIZZLES I'M WRITING AGAIN X0 I know. Shocker. Well, truth be told, I've been writing, only I haven't had time until now to update like legit. So I'll try to update my FMA Advice Column as well…Right after I get back from Cape May D You all probably hate me now. Sorry; no time + I can't get into character SUCKS TO YOUR ASS-MAR. …Lord of the Flies reference DX**

**So for something completely different…something that relates to the story!! X0 White Houses has always reminded me of OHSHC, in some AU, awkward kind of way. And since the song refuses to leave my goddamn head, I decided to fanfic it. Huzzah! (Yes, fanfic is officially a verb. Fanfic, to fanfic, fanficing? You know). Also, this is the first fanfic I've written that hasn't been _written out _first; it's directly being typed! It's also my first AU-ish fic (which is ironic, because usually I don't like change and therefore don't like AU's…). And a single song that's divided into chapters, hmm…Well, we'll see what happens D The characters will be similar to how they really are, but you will notice some major diffs.**

**Warning: There are "feminine issues" (if you know what I mean) at at least three instances in this story. One is in this chapter. I don't know too many guys who like OHSHC enough to read fanfiction (not that there aren't any), but if you're male, consider yourself warned. Also, the rating of this _will reach "M"_ (if you know the song, you know why), and the genres will change to fit the overall story. JUST SO YOU KNOW.**

White Houses

Little Bungalow

_Crashed on the floor when I moved in  
This little bungalow with some strange new friends  
Stay up too late, and I'm too thin  
We promise each other it's 'til the end  
Now we're spinning empty bottles  
It's the five of us  
With pretty eyed boys girls die to trust  
I can't resist the day  
No, I can't resist the day  
_

"Ugh. Honestly, a summer house?" a girl mumbled to herself as she walked down the sidewalk. Her hair was chopped short like a boy's, but looking at the feminine clothes she wore and the amount of luggage she was carrying…well, only a girl could pack that much luggage for a five week summer. "'No, really, it'll be fun!' he says. Really. It's just an excuse for him to run off with his friends for five weeks in Switzerland. As if his friends are any better. All dumping off their kids here. Aren't a bunch of them boys? And he's never met them; I could get raped, for all he know-UWAH!" the girl exclaimed as she tripped and fell, her luggage falling everywhere. She groaned, and began collecting the bags and suitcases that were strewn across the sidewalk, mentally cursing the bus company for not making a stop that was closer to her destination.

"I'm sorry, but is this yours?" the girl heard a voice to her left ask. She looked to see a boy that looked to be about her age standing to the side of the road holding one of her bags, even though he had some luggage of his own (though the amount he carried was noticeably less than hers).

"Oh…Yeah, sorry about that, I tripped."

"So then, is this yours, too?" she heard another voice, one that was similar, yet different ask from several feet in front of her. She had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, because the exact same boy was now standing in front of her.

"Um…oh, well, yeah." _Duh, they're obviously twins. Come on, Haruhi, you can't be this brain-dead with a bunch of guys living in the same house as you! Pull yourself together! _As the two approached her, however, she noticed that they really weren't the _exact_ same boy. For one thing, even though their clothes were extremely similar with the same color patterns, they differed by one having more pockets or zippers and other small, hardly noticeable things like that. For another, one's reddish hair was parted to the left and the other's was parted to the right. And somehow, there was something else different about them, though Haruhi couldn't place her finger on it.

"Well, judging by all this luggage you're carrying, I guess we're headed for the same place," the first boy she saw, the one with his hair parted to the right, said. "My name is Hikaru Hitachiin-"

"-And I'm Kaoru Hitachiin."

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Haruhi Fujioka," the girl introduced herself.

"Ah, well then, Haruhi-" Hikaru started.

"-would you like us to help you carry something?" Kaoru finished.

"You have way more luggage than us," Hikaru continued, gesturing to the few bags he and his brother carried.

"Oh! No, that's alright, I can carry them myself!" Haruhi protested.

"Really?" Hikaru asked, walking ahead of her, still carrying her bag that he'd picked up.

"Because it seems like you were struggling with all those bags," Kaoru agreed, keeping up with his brother while carrying another one of Haruhi's bags.

"No, really, don't bother yourselves! I told you, I can do it!" Haruhi exclaimed, trying to keep up with them.

"But you obviously can't!" The two called back in unison, ever evading her reach.

* * *

The three continued the rest of the short distance to the house like that, running after each other (more like stumbling, with all those bags) while arguing back and forth over who should carry them. Finally, the twins stopped short, their laughing having ceased (they apparently got amusement out of annoying others, despite their initial attitude, Haruhi decided), in front of an enormous white house, surrounded by a white picket fence with a black iron gate in front. The entire house was blindingly white, except for the shutters, which were as black as the gate. From the gate to the three small steps of the stoop in front of the door there was a small pathway made up of large flat stones. Trees filled the yard, along with lilies and other flowers, and two rosebushes stood on either side of the small set of stairs.

"Uhh…"

"Come on, Hikaru, you said you'd hold onto it; don't tell me you've lost it!"

"I didn't loose it! It's right…Uh…here?" Haruhi could hear the two boys arguing as she approached them.

"What are you looking for?" she asked, gazing at the house.

"Ah, well, our mom wrote down the address of the summer house so we wouldn't forget. Hikaru was _supposed _to hold onto it, but…"

"Ah! Found it! See, I didn't loose it, it was just towards the bottom end of this bag. Anyway, this is the place, alright. Let's go," Hikaru said, pushing open the gate with his free hand, then using it to pick up the bag he'd put on the ground while searching for the lost paper.

Again, the twins led the way up the pathway, past the trees and lilies and finally the rosebushes, up the steps to the door, holding it open like perfect gentlemen to let Haruhi through with her astounding amount of luggage. Yet no sooner had she reached the door than she again tripped, this time over the threshold, and all of her bags (minus the two Hikaru and Kaoru were carrying for her) spilled all over the floor again.

"-And that is why I shall be your King—UWOAH!" a blonde boy standing near the door was saying- that is, until Haruhi tripped into him, knocking him to the ground and landing on top of him.

"Ow," she mumbled, her eyes instinctively closed from the fall. _This floor doesn't feel hard at all…But then, it's not quite soft…in fact, it feels more like a…like a… _Haruhi's eyes snapped open with the realization that she was, in fact, lying on top of a human being. "Uhh…WAH! I'm so sorry!" Haruhi exclaimed, leaping up as she turned beet red, her strewn luggage forgotten for the moment.

"Ahhh…" The blonde haired boy groaned, getting up, "Oh! No, it's really my fault for standing so close to the door," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed, "Well, that was sure an awkward way to meet, but at least it's a meeting we'll never forget! By the way, my name is Tamaki. Tamaki Suoh," he said, extending his hand.

"I'm Haruhi. Haruhi Fujioka," she found herself introducing herself again as she took his hands. "I'm sorry, but…your hair…and your eyes…Are you really Japanese?" she blushed as she asked, but she couldn't help herself; he must live in Japan since their parents were friends, but he sure as hell didn't look it!

"Half Japanese," Tamaki answered, but didn't bother to elaborate. _(A/N you don't even want to know how long it took me to remember that word…)_

"Um, your bags are everywhere. Do you want some help with them?" Haruhi heard a child's voice ask, and looked behind the blonde boy standing in front of her to see three more people, neglected until that moment. There was a boy with glasses and black hair sitting in an armchair reading, though he looked up for just a moment when the child spoke. He looked to be around the age of the other three boys Haruhi had just met, unlike the boy who was sitting in the couch opposite him. He was perhaps a foot shorter than she, who was already several inches shorter than everyone else, with blonde hair and a very happy disposition. There was another boy sitting on his far side but still next to him, who appeared several years older. He had black hair like the one reading, but his expression seemed stoic.

"Well…I suppose, if that's alright with you. But I don't even know your names yet," Haruhi said, feeling guilty.

"I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but most people just call me Hunny, and it's very nice to meet you, Haru-chan! Oh, and this is my cousin, Takashi Morinozuka, but you can call him Mori," the boy who called himself Hunny exclaimed, speaking faster than Haruhi thought humanly possible while his cousin merely grunted after being introduced. He jumped up from the couch, as though someone had given him a jumpstart, grabbing his cousin's hand and leading him to the luggage-strewn area of the floor.

As the two cousins walked towards Haruhi, she looked towards the boy with glasses, and noticed he was staring at her. However, as soon as she looked at him, he pushed up his glasses and went back to reading his book, and as a means of introduction, merely said, "Kyoya Ohtori."

"Are you two staying here as well?" Haruhi heard the boy who had introduced himself as Tamaki ask from behind her as she picked up a suitcase, and presumed he was talking to the twins. "What are your names?"

"Hikaru-"

"-and Kaoru-"

"-Hitachiin," the two finished together.

"Um, excuse me, but have we divided up the bedrooms yet? I'd like to unpack, if that's ok," Haruhi directed the question at any of the four boys who had been there prior to her arrival. Seeing as none of them had any of their bags downstairs with them, she assumed they'd brought them up to their rooms already, so they must have decided on the rooming order.

"Ah, but of course!" Tamaki exclaimed, turning away from the twins to face her, "Since there will be eight of us staying here (or so I've been told) and there are four bedrooms, we've divided up the rooms so that there will be two to a room. Although I don't know who the last person to join us will be, so if it's a girl, she can obviously stay with Haruhi, though if it's a boy, it would only be reasonable for him to stay in one of our rooms. But let's not worry about that just now. If you go upstairs and go to your right, the first two rooms on the left-hand side are empty, so you can pick whichever one you want."

"Alright, thank you," Haruhi said as she carried some of her bags up the stairs, Hunny and Mori following, with the twins behind them.

As they turned down the hallway, Haruhi heard one of the twins call down to her, "Don't forget, we have some of your stuff, too!"

"Alright, then, I'll take the first room so you don't have to carry it as far," Haruhi replied, looking behind her. Though when she did, she saw Hunny carrying her largest suitcase, and cried, "Hunny! What are you doing? A little boy like you shouldn't be carrying something so heavy! Just give it to me, sweetie, and I'll carry it the rest of the way."

"Sorry, what are you talking about?" Hunny asked, obviously confused, "Me and Takashi are the same age. We're both seventeen."

Haruhi almost dropped all of her luggage again when he said this. "R-Really?" she asked, and Mori nodded to confirm it. "Y-You're so small…But you're really older than me? Oh, I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to-!"

"It's alright," Hunny laughed, "I'm really not sensitive about my height or anything, so it's alright!"

"Alright…" Haruhi said reluctantly, then realized that they had reached the room she had chosen. "Oh yeah, you guys can just put the bags down in here. I'll unpack by myself."

* * *

"Eh, tono, it's getting late out," the twins, seated on either side of Tamaki, said in unison. Tono was the nickname they'd thought up for him, as they'd heard his self-declaration of "King" when they first arrived.

"I don't think this final eighth person is showing up today," Hikaru said.

"I suppose," Tamaki agreed, "But furthermore, it's been hours since we last saw Haruhi. Do you think she's alright?"

"Don't worry, she's probably just taking her time unpacking. She's a girl, after all," Kaoru said.

While Haruhi had been MIA, the boys hadn't exactly had the most thrilling time. Hunny took Mori by the hand, exploring every inch of the large house, which had actually taken some time, though they ended up getting bored before they got to the back end of the house and decided to join the rest in the living room before long. The twins had unpacked quickly, and after they'd finished, they'd spent their time harassing their new "king". Kyoya had simply spent his time reading his book while ignoring the others (or at least, trying to). However, except for the twins who harassed Tamaki, and Hunny and Mori, who probably interacted only because they knew each other before then, the boys didn't make an effort, such as Tamaki's when Haruhi and the twins had arrived, to open up to the others. Because of this, boredom was just about to overwhelm them, until they heard a voice calling from the top of the stairs.

"Hey, guys! Did you see the pool outside? It's huge! It's not too dark out, and it's still hot, so I'm gonna go for a swim. Come out, if you like," they heard Haruhi's voice call, followed by, "Guess it's a good thing I brought my bathing suit, after all!"

Of course, after the blazing hot day they'd endured to get there (even though it was air-conditioned inside), none were opposed to going for a swim.

* * *

"Oh, wow…this is really nice!" Haruhi said in awe as she stood next to the pool. The bathing suit she wore was a one-piece suit, not revealing in the least, and dark blue in color. The pool she looked into appeared to be the same dark blue due to the disappearing sun. It was an in-ground pool, with water levels as shallow as three feet and as deep as six feet. However, it looked as if it hadn't gotten any use in a while, as there were dead leaves floating at the top of the water. Though, Haruhi supposed, the landlord or whoever their parents were renting this house from must have vacuumed the bottom prior to their arrival, as it was nearly spotless, just leaving the top of the water for them to clean themselves. After all, leaves and insects fall into pools everyday, so while it may have been spotless when the landlord had cleaned it, over the week or so that no one had lived there, the amount of debris on top must have just increased. _So I guess that means I have to clean it, huh? _The girl thought, finding the net propped up against the side of a large white shed that was next to the pool. As she skimmed the leaves and dead bugs off the water's surface, she secretly hoped that the boys would thank her for it and give them all an opportunity to open up to each other a bit more; she was never very good at doing that.

"Woooow, so clean!" she heard a voice that could only be Hunny's exclaim a few feet to her left as she skimmed the last of the debris off of the water. She turned to see the small boy with a pink tube around his middle gazing into the water. Mori stood next to him, wearing his same expressionless mask, though she thought she saw a spark of _something _in his eyes as he looked at her. Appreciation, perhaps? She didn't have time to think about it, however, as two arms snaked around her shoulders.

"We saw you cleaning up from our window. So you did it all by yourself, eh, Haruhi?" two nearly identical voices whispered into her ear.

"Y-Yes…that's right," Haruhi stammered. _Ok, so I wanted us to bond with each other a bit, but this is a little _too _close…_

"Then we give you our thanks. That saved the rest of us a lot of work," Haruhi turned, subtly trying to shake the twins off of her, to see the glasses-wearing boy who had introduced himself as Kyoya walk up to the pool, with Tamaki not far behind.

"You little devils! Step away from Haruhi!" speaking of the taller blonde boy, he was headed straight for Haruhi and the two boys who still had their arms around her.

"Eh, tono, what's your problem?" Hikaru asked innocently.

"We were just thanking her for taking the time to clean the pool," Kaoru finished for him.

"Really, Tamaki, what's wrong?" Haruhi asked, obviously confused.

"Haruhi, believe me, they may seem innocent enough, but they're really devilish tricksters! Why, not ten minutes ago, they locked me in my room!"

"No, they merely tricked you into thinking they did. You were just turning the doorknob the wrong way," Kyoya reminded him, coming out of the shed with a lawn chair.

"Well, either way, just look at them sexually harassing poor Haruhi!" Tamaki continued as Hunny and Mori slipped into the more shallow end of the pool and Kyoya opened up the lawn chair, setting the towel he'd brought with him (not that anyone else did) on it, and his glasses on top of that.

"Really, Tamaki, I think you're exaggerating…"

"Don't, worry, Haruhi, I'll free you from their grasp!"

"Tono!"

"Stop!"

Splash!

* * *

After Tamaki's attempted "rescue" of Haruhi, ending up in all four teenagers falling in the pool, the four sat next to each other, letting their legs dangle in the water while the other three swam. Tamaki continued to apologize to Haruhi and the twins.

"Tono. Really. It's fine. Stop apologizing," the brothers said in unison. They hadn't really minded the whole ordeal; in fact, it had been fairly amusing, and wished the stupid blonde would just shut up about the whole thing.

"Kaoru, you're sure you're fine?" Hikaru turned to his twin, lowering his voice, "I mean, if you have water in your ears, you could get an ear infection, and then what would happen…?"

"Hikaru, I'm fine, really. You don't have to worry about me," Kaoru replied, sounding a bit embarrassed. "But…you're sure _you're_ fine? I fell on top of you, after all."

"I'm alright," the other answered, and moved closer to his brother.

"Really, Haruhi," Tamaki was saying to their only female companion, "I _am_ sorry about all of that."

"I told you, Tamaki, it's fine," Haruhi reassured him. "But I think that's enough excitement for tonight. I'm going to go put the net away inside the shed and then head in for the night."

"B-But Haruhi!" Tamaki protested, still probably thinking that she was mad at him.

"It's _alright_. Night."

But when Haruhi walked into the so-called "shed", she found it to be nothing at all like what she expected. Several lawn chairs like the one Kyoya had taken out were lined against the right wall, along with other pool equipment, including towels and a nail for the net to hang on. However, most of the rest of the area was empty; the floor was carpeted, and when Haruhi turned the lights on, she saw a small refrigerator in the corner and a ping-pong table against the back wall underneath the clock.

"…9:45 _is_ a little early to turn in…"

* * *

"Hey, this place is pretty nice."

"Someone could live back here if they wanted to!"

"There's some stuff in the fridge; bottled soda and some snacks. Anyone want anything?"

"They even stocked the fridge for us?"

"Dad did say this place was pretty expensive to rent out; I guess it makes sense."

Once everyone had seen their fill of the mini-house and had mostly dried off, they emptied the fridge and, sitting in a circle, practically devoured everything that had been in it. It was obvious no one had had much to eat that day.

"Haru-chan, aren't you hungry, too?" Hunny asked her, and all eyes turned towards the girl, AKA the only one not eating or drinking.

"No, I'm fine, but thank you."

"Haruhi…when did you get a chance to eat today? You were unpacking all day," one of the twins noted.

"Um…well, I didn't exactly eat here. But I had a real big breakfast before I left home, so I haven't been hungry; something like four pancakes, some eggs-"

"Liar."

Everyone's eyes were now focused on the new speaker. "Uh…K-Kyoya? What do you mean?"

"You're way too thin. There's no way you could have eaten that much food at once. Your body is obviously not accustomed to eating large quantities of food at once, so it would be impossible for you to have eaten so much when it looks like you normally have small meals," Kyoya explained. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"OH, MY POOR HARUHI IS ANOREXIC!!" Tamaki exclaimed, glomping onto the girl sitting next to him. "Don't worry, over this summer, I shall teach you how to have a healthy diet!"

"Tamaki. Let go of me. I'm not anorexic." As Tamaki let go of her, she let out a breath. "Honestly, you're like an over protective father. Look, I don't have an eating problem, alright? I'm just not used to eating a lot. I usually eat pretty small meals, and while my breakfast wasn't actually _that _big, it was big for me, so I'm just not hungry. That's it, I guess."

"But you're still so thin. You're always gonna be flat-chested if you continue like this."

"Ok, I don't know which one of you said that, but _that does it!!_" and with that, Haruhi found herself stuffing her face with various sweet snacks.

* * *

"You guys suck," Haruhi mumbled later, feeling like she was going to explode. Perhaps having a cute boy- and yes, they were all pretty damn cute, each in his own way, even if they were all weird enough to make up for it- call her flat-chested had pushed her perhaps a little too far, and now she felt slightly nauseated.

"Now what should we do? It's just 10:30," Hunny asked over Tamaki's cries of, "Haruhi hates us all! What shall we do!?".

"Spin The Bottle?" Hikaru openly suggested, his chin resting in his palm, spinning his empty glass soda bottle with his free hand.

"But there's just one girl here," Kyoya pointed out.

"How about instead of kissing, we play it like Truth or Dare?" Kaoru suggested.

"Ah, but that's still boring, my dear brother. How about whoever spins asks a request, or something of the like, of whoever it lands on?"

"Even better, Hikaru. Though I suppose we should keep it to a PG level. Whoever doesn't-"

"-Shall lose their turn."

"Any questions?" The two finished in unison.

"Just one…what's up with you two?" Haruhi mumbled, referring to how oddly close the two seemed, even for twins. _And why does it feel as though you planned that…?_

The game went on for quite a while. The first questions the first few people who spun asked was whether or not the one answering had a girlfriend (or boyfriend), probably for lack of anything better to ask. But after that, questions were asked and requests were made, from Kyoya being asked if the book he was reading was porn (which he deftly denied), to Mori being asked to say various odd phrases. The room was filled with laughing; everyone was enjoying themselves.

Finally, the bottle landed on Haruhi. Prior to then, everyone had gone easy on her, since she had been feeling sick from all the sweets she'd eaten. However, she appeared much better now, and so the twins (who, as an unwritten rule, acted together) decided to make things a bit more difficult for her.

"Alright…" they said in unison, running their hands through their own and each others' hair until they were completely messy and it was impossible to see which way their hair part. The two left the building for a moment, then came back in, and switched places a few times, just to be safe. "Which one of us is Hikaru?" the two asked in unison.

"Uwah! That's so difficult, though!" Hunny exclaimed, "How's she suppose to-"

"You're Hikaru," Haruhi said simply, pointing to the twin that was on her left.

"Wrong!" the twins said in unison, smiling.

"Haruhi, it's alright-"

"I told you it was too difficult-!"

"I'm not wrong."

"Huh?" everyone looked at Haruhi, confused.

"Y-You said I was Hikaru, right?" the boy Haruhi had pointed to asked. "But I…I'm not. So you lose."

"But you _are_ Hikaru. I can tell," Haruhi pushed.

"Didn't we mess up our hair enough?" the twin who Haruhi had left as Kaoru asked, "Or did your eyes follow us outside and back?"

"Neither," the girl said simply, "You're just different. I don't know what it is, but you are. What? Don't tell me even people you know well have a hard time telling you apart?"

"Well…"

"There aren't really that many people we know very well."

"And absolutely everyone has a hard time telling us apart."

"Even our parents get confused sometimes."

Everyone was silent for a moment after the twins had spoken. They had proven themselves to be the most fun-loving and playful out of the group, and to see them so serious, even for just a minute, seemed to shock everyone into silence to a point where no one even noticed how close the two were sitting next to each other now.

Finally, Hunny broke the silence. "H-Haru-chan, isn't it your turn?"

"Oh…right, it is. Ok, here goes!" Haruhi said as she spun the bottle. As fate would have it, it just so happened to land on the same blonde haired boy that _she'd_ landed on earlier that day.

"Ah, Haruhi. Come now; don't be shy, ask whatever you like!" Tamaki exclaimed boldly.

Haruhi thought for a moment. She really oughtn't…but…

"Um…well…You said before you were only half Japanese. What else…Er…What other nationality-?"

"French," Tamaki answered, not letting her finish. "My mother is French. She and my father met when he was on a business trip to France."

"Oh…" was all Haruhi could think to say. His tone made her regret delving into his family history.

This time, it was Kyoya who dispelled the awkwardness. "Aren't you going to spin? It's your turn."

"Nah, that's alright. We should probably head inside. For one thing, it's beginning to get chilly and we're all still in our bathing suits; for another, it's going on three a.m."

While everyone seemed shocked at the time (apparently, none had been paying much attention to the clock), Haruhi was the most surprised. "T-THREE A.M.!?" she exclaimed, leaping up. "How are we going to get up tomorrow!?"

* * *

It had taken some stumbling through the dark, walking into a few trees on Tamaki's part, and another incident involving him actually walking into the side of the house to get to the back door. They all made a vow to leave some of the lights on next time they decided to have a midnight swim, and headed to their respective rooms.

"Ah, this room is so nice! I wish my room at home was like this," Haruhi said as she collapsed on the double bed. There was only one bed per bedroom, but it was large enough for two people to sleep comfortably in. "I know this is selfish of me," she said into the mattress, "But I kind of actually hope that the eighth person is a boy."

She got changed out of her bathing suit and into her pajamas, and laid down on the comfortable bed. But no sooner had she laid down than a feeling hit her. It was a familiar feeling, if one she'd rather forget.

"…Shit."

* * *

"It had to be now, didn't it?" Haruhi mumbled to herself as she slammed closed the little doors of her nightstand, the desired solution to her little problem in hand. _Though I guess it's a good thing it didn't happen during that game…Boys, at this age especially have no idea what this is like, never mind _those_ boys. The only time they've heard the word "period" has probably been in their writing classes, _she thought as she stormed down the hallway, _Yeah, a fun goddamn summer indeed. Argh, pull yourself together, this is just PMS. This isn't the last time it's gonna happen this summer, so just learn to deal with it now._

"-ruhi? Haruhi? Hellooo?" She realized someone was saying.

"Ohh…sorry, Tamaki, what was that? I'm…a bit tired."

"You ok? You look a bit out of it. And you were kind of mumbling to yourself."

"Uh…I-I was? Really?" Haruhi asked, a bit embarrassed, and slipped the pad into the back of her pajama shorts before he could see.

"Uh, yeah. Do you have a fever or something? It was kind of chilly out there," Tamaki asked, and laid his hand on her forehead. "You're a little warm…"

_Yeah, but it's not due to the reason you're thinking of, _Haruhi thought. "Don't worry, I'm fine," she said with a smile, but was inwardly cursing him. _I swear, if it gets through to my pajamas…_

"Do you want me to walk you to the bathroom? I was just heading back to my room, but I want to make sure you're really ok. It would suck if you got sick at the very beginning of this vacation," Tamaki pushed, and Haruhi could tell from his tone that he was sincerely worried about her.

"Tamaki…I'm sorry," she murmured.

"…Oh my god, Haruhi, you're hallucinating; you really must be sick!" Tamaki exclaimed, but was shushed by the so-called "hallucinating" girl.

"You'll wake everyone up! And anyway…I mean I'm sorry about before. I had no right to bring up your personal family matters."

"Haruhi…" she heard Tamaki say just moments before she felt his arms around her. "There's no need to apologize. Really."

"Tamaki…" the girl breathed out, but then he let go of her as abruptly as he had hugged her.

"Come on," he smiled at her, "Let's go see if there's some medicine in the bathroom."

Suddenly, the purpose for this little expedition hit Haruhi. "…_FUCK_!" she cried, and raced down the hallway. "Tamaki, really, I'm fine, now _go to bed!_" she called back to him.

"…Girls," the blonde sighed and decided to honor her request and head back to his own room.

* * *

In the bathroom, Haruhi stared at her face in the mirror. Even in the dark, she could tell that she was blushing red. …_It's only hormones. It's only hormones._

_I hope._

**My sister, momoxtoshiro, wrote a _hilarious_ OHSHC oneshot involving a doorknob…Honestly, it had me dying XD Read it!!**

**I feel like I should do a profile of everyone at the beginning/end of each chapter. Well, they're mostly similar to the real characters, but not exactly so. It's AU, I have freedom. I think I made Haruhi too much like me XD Especially the eating thing. I think what I'm trying to say is that she only eats when she's real hungry. Maybe. Heh. I really want to draw her in these pajamas, though Maybe an end-of-story bonus? ;D Don't worry, they're very boy-ish lol. Except for the shorts. Maybe the bathing suit, too. Just to apologize to all those guys out there who had to put up with this XD**

**And in the next chapter, we'll see who the eighth person is! No, it's not an OC, but if you know this song, you can probably guess who. No googling to cheat! ;D Also, I made a lovely background inspired by this fic It's in my LiveJournal profile and on my PhotoBucket.**

**I'd again like to apologize to all you guys who had to suffer through that last bit. Sucks to your ass-mar.**

**See you soon! **


	2. All In Bloom

**Feels good to be writing again XD** **Is it me, or does this have a Haruhi Suzumiya kind of feel to it? Maybe because I've been watching it every night before I type? (I finished it, though, so let's see if the style changes any after this chapter?) Anyway. I think I'm making them do more "well, our parents aren't here and we're teenagers" kinds of things than the manga. If this is taking place in our world, which is what I mean for it to, then I know that any one I know would do the same thing in this situation. But I really follow the lyrics too closely (speaking of, I really don't know how much it takes to get a person drunk. Don't bug me on that). It would be OOC if it was in the manga/anime, but as it's AU, I think it's pretty IC. Confusing, ne? XD**

**I'm pretty sure there's a hint at every pairing in this chapter. If you go past what could be debated as fanservice, yes, there is a legit pair this chapter is focused on. There's at least one legit pairing in this chapter.**

**White Houses**

**All In Bloom**

_Jenny screams out and it's no pose  
'Cause when she dances she goes and goes  
Beer through the nose on an inside joke  
And I'm so excited, I haven't spoken  
And she's so pretty, and she's so sure  
Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her  
Summer's all in bloom  
Summer is ending soon_

Haruhi woke up the next morning to the sound of frantic banging on the front door. She tried to get up, but when she saw that her alarm clock only said 8:30a.m., she collapsed back onto the bed. She couldn't even think coherent thoughts; how many hours of sleep had she gotten? However, as the pounding continued, she gave up; the boys were obviously not going to get it.

However, as she dragged herself out into the hallway, she saw that some of her house-mates were doing the same. The twins and Mori were quietly escaping from their rooms, intent on the same mission as she. She would've turned back and gone back to bed if they hadn't seen her.

And if they had been wearing shirts.

"As if anyone could sleep with all this noise," Kaoru tried to break the silence between the four.

"Hunny's still asleep."

The other three turned to look at Mori. They were shocked to silence that he had voluntary spoken, and so he continued.

"He's…very different in the morning. We'd better see who it is before it wakes him."

"Right…" the others mumbled (obviously, they were all still exhausted), and headed downstairs.

As soon as Hikaru opened the door, however, a mass of luggage, even more than Haruhi had brought, tumbled in.

"Honestly, what took you so long? Do you know how long I've been standing here? How late do you guys sleep in that you have to keep a young woman waiting at the door?" the girl standing in the door started babbling as soon as she saw the four. "Do you have any idea how heavy that luggage was? And…Everyone else here is a boy? Great, that means-"

"I'm a girl," Haruhi said simply.

"-I have absolutely no- What?"

Haruhi was beginning to get slightly annoyed. "I said, 'I'm a _girl_'." However, when the other girl embraced her in a huge hug, most traces of annoyance disappeared and were turned into surprise.

"Yay, another girl for me to hang out with! I'm sorry I thought you were a boy! Oh, and it's alright if it took you a while to get down here; I understand how we women work- heehee! Not that any of _them_ have an excuse for making me wait so long. So carry my bags up, will you?"

"Yeah, uh, who are you?" Hikaru asked, annoyed that someone who just showed up at their door without so much as an introduction was already ordering them around. They could already see that she was way more feminine than Haruhi, from her personality to the way she looked; long brown hair with a pink bow on top, wearing a skort and pink top compared to Haruhi's short, currently messy hair and boy-ish pajamas.

"Oh, sorry, looks like I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Renge Houshakuji. And you are?"

After introductions were made, the boys begrudgingly carried Renge's luggage up to her and Haruhi's room while the two girls talked. Or rather, Renge talked and Haruhi tried to wake herself up more. Yet no matter how overly-girlish Renge was, even though she could be annoying and talked a mile a minute, and even though she now had to share her room, Haruhi felt an odd sort of friendship forming between them.

* * *

"Ah, it is a pleasure to meet our newest arrival!" Tamaki was saying about an hour later as he came down the stairs. Haruhi could tell he was trying not to show how tired he was; well, he could have alerted them to the time a bit earlier last night, so it was really all his fault, she decided.

As the two introduced themselves, Haruhi asked the twins, who had managed to wake up Tamaki and get him downstairs, where Kyoya and Hunny were.

"If you think we were waking them up after the looks they gave us, you're dead wrong," they said simultaneously.

"Mori wasn't kidding when he said Hunny was a bit different in the morning-" Kaoru began.

"-He's like a demon or something! Same with Kyoya. I think it's best if we just leave them alone," Hikaru finished.

As if on cue, a fully-awake Hunny bounded down the stairs, Mori right behind him.

"Mm-hmm. Right," Haruhi said sarcastically as the twins stared in awe.

"Aww! What a cute little boy!" Renge exclaimed before anyone could tell her otherwise. "And how old are you?"

"…Seventeen."

Renge decided that then was a good time to unpack, and dragged Haruhi upstairs with her so the only one still in her pajamas (besides the allegedly sleeping Kyoya) could get changed.

But just because she was unpacking didn't mean Renge stopped talking. She could multitask. "So you were here with just a bunch of boys all day yesterday? And last night? Did you make a move on any of them? Or did they hit on you? Give me all the details!"

"R-Really, nothing happened," Haruhi protested, trying to forget how Tamaki had hugged and tried to overprotect her and how the twins had so casually put their arms around her.

"You're serious? Wait, so you don't like any of them? Come on, every type of guy is represented down there! They're all so hot- or cute- I guess it depends on your preference, but still, you can't tell me you're not attracted to any of them!" Renge tried again.

"N-No- Well, they are pretty attractive, but they're mostly idiots," Haruhi tried to explain. She'd never talked like this with another girl before, so she found herself feeling pretty awkward. Her shoes became amazingly interesting.

"Idiots they may be," Renge turned around from the closet to face her companion and winked, "But they're still boys."

* * *

After a week and a half had passed, it had become clear (at least to Haruhi) that Renge was the type of person who had a kind of charisma that made it hard for pretty much anyone to resist becoming her friend, and perhaps it was due to that charisma that she was able to get pretty much anyone to do pretty much anything for her. In this case, "pretty much anyone" was referring to the six boys whom they shared the house with.

Not that Haruhi (completely) disliked her. Perhaps it was the charisma that drew her in as well, or perhaps it was because she was the first female friend she found herself getting extremely close to. Either way, while Renge tended to forget her female companion in the presence of the boys, while they were alone in their room at night or in the mornings, she would treat her like her dearest friend that she had known since infancy. Haruhi concluded that she had never laughed more _or_ harder with anyone else before.

However, Haruhi couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of her new friend. That first day without Renge, Haruhi had been the only girl in the group, and therefore unique and attention could easily be drawn to her (whether she wanted it to be or not). Now, with Renge's more outgoing personality, the boys usually only seemed to think of her as if an afterthought. It didn't bother her as much as it made her feel a bit awkward, and maybe even a little lonely, though. Because of this, she would sometimes go off by herself, initially unnoticed, whether it was to clean, do laundry, swim, etc. But the others were always sure to go after her, and let her know (in their own strange ways) just how deeply she had been missed, even if she'd only been gone for ten minutes, and would, for the rest of the day, make sure to include her in everything they did. Unless, of course, Renge decided Haruhi was cleaning up only because the boys were too messy, and made them clean up while the girls indulged themselves in the pool.

After all, Renge was capable of getting pretty much anyone to do pretty much anything.

The only one of the boys who seemed impervious to Renge's spell was Kyoya. He was the only one who seemed to find her annoying in the least, and while he hid this from her and the others well enough, Haruhi could tell. Not that he annoyed her enough that she would order him around; _he, _at least, knew better than to upset her.

It was on one such day, about two weeks after her arrival, that Renge had sent the twins to town on a food shopping mission, declared Tamaki should clean the house (as punishment for one thing or another), and she, Mori and Hunny were off either swimming or relaxing in the mini-house out back that Haruhi happened to find Kyoya alone.

And she found him doing something that she deemed to be most un-Kyoya-like.

Watering the flowers.

_Is this really what he does in his free time? _she wondered. She'd merely stepped out of the house to get away from Tamaki's whining when she saw Kyoya watering the various flowers that were positioned around the front of the house with the hose, and decided to sit down on the steps and watch him.

However, she hadn't been sitting there for more than three minutes when, without even turning to face her, he called to her, "And how long are you going to sit there watching me?"

Bewildered, the most she could stutter out was, "U-Uh! S-Sorry!" Really, did he have a sixth sense or something? She'd even closed the door quietly so Tamaki wouldn't notice she was gone. Whoops…maybe that was a bad idea…(he was probably panicking about now).

"…There's not really anything to be sorry about. But you could have at least said something," Kyoya said, again without turning to face the girl, which snapped her out of her thinking. Guess Tamaki's distraught-ness would have to wait.

"Sorry. I just didn't want to bother you."

"You mean, you thought if you said something, I'd stop what I was doing out of embarrassment or something."

"…"

"Why don't you come over here?" he invited.

Unable to deny him, Haruhi found herself walking over to Kyoya and the lilies. She had to admit, with the water droplets clinging to their fragile petals, they looked beautiful. If she had a camera, she'd want to take a picture of them.

"Give my arm a break," Kyoya broke the silence, and held the hose out to Haruhi.

After a minute or two of silence, which consisted of the two moving on from the lilies and onto the two rose bushes, Haruhi felt as though she had to break the heretofore-mentioned silence.

"This is actually kind of relaxing," she said quietly, moving the hose slowly over the flowers. "We don't have a garden at home, so I've never gotten to do this before. On my way home from school, if it's sunny, the flowers are dry, and if it's raining, I'm too busy running to notice them. But like this, with the little droplets of water all over them, they're kind of pretty. Even more than they usually are."

Kyoya didn't speak for a moment. He turned to look at Haruhi, who was now wondering if the silence was only more awkward because she had spoken, and smiled. "Yeah. Pretty." After a moment, though, he noticed that Haruhi had been spraying the same spot for several minutes (because she had been talking and thinking too hard). "You're gonna drown them," he reprimanded.

"Huh?" Haruhi blinked at him, not quite having heard him.

Kyoya, rather than repeating himself, merely sighed, then placed his hands over hers on the hose and moved it with her, showering the bush with the water.

Haruhi couldn't help blushing. Perhaps it was because this was the first time she had had physical contact with him, or perhaps it was the physical contact itself, or maybe it was how close he was standing to her in order for said physical contact to occur. Whatever it was, she couldn't keep her heart rate down. "Um, Kyoya…I can do this, you know. I was only daydreaming for a moment back there; I don't need to be guided like a little kid."

However, Kyoya made no move to show that he had heard her, and she sighed in defeat, letting him guide her.

* * *

It was hours later when the twins finally returned ("Hey, we had to walk there, you know!" they protested, but had a glint of mischievousness in their eyes that the others didn't seem to catch). However, most of the group was really too hungry to care, and aside from making mental notes to not wait until _all _of their food had run out before buying more, they concentrated all of their energy into making a simple dinner.

It was only until after everyone had eaten (during which time, Hikaru and Kaoru had been exchanging mischievous glances) and everyone was just sort of sitting around that the two brothers told everyone to go to the mini-house out back, because they had a surprise there. They left through the front door to retrieve the surprise, which they claimed was hidden behind the rosebushes. Once they retrieved it, they went around back to meet the others, who followed the brothers' request, despite their gut feelings.

"…Alcohol?"

"Yeah?" Kaoru asked, looking innocently bored.

"That was your surprise?"

"Yeah…so?" Kaoru questioned again as his brother began to look more and more annoyed.

"But that's against the law! Where did you get it, anyway? I mean, who would sell two cases of beer to minors, anyway?"

Finally, Hikaru exploded. "What, are you all freakin' angels or something!? You act as if you've never done anything wrong in your life! Look, our parents aren't here. If none of us tell, who's to know? And anyway, if you don't get _totally_ wasted, what's going to happen? This is our _vacation_. I can guarantee you any _other_ teenagers in the same situation would do the same." (A/N I probably wouldn't. Goody-too-shoes…)

Everyone was silent for a moment. Yes, it was tempting.

"Kay!" everyone turned to Renge, who was currently reaching out for an ice-cold bottle.

"Haha! Now that's the spirit!" Hikaru said happily, handing her a bottle. Pretty soon, everyone had given in and taken a bottle of their own. The twins, who had obviously done this before, downed theirs pretty fast, as did Renge, and therefore got a second bottle quickly. Haruhi merely sipped at hers, not quite as into it as the others. Then again, Hunny didn't seem so thrilled to be drinking it, either, and were thankful they sat next to each other. It seemed to have minimal effects on Mori, as well as Kyoya (though he did seem to be laughing a bit more that usual). Of course, the one who already appeared to be on drugs and/or alcohol half the time was the one who got the last bottle. As if Tamaki needed to be any more…hyper, was it?

(A/N Thought this would help with visualization. Here's the circle they're sitting in: Tamaki, Haruhi, Hunny, Mori, Renge, Kyoya, Hikaru, Kaoru, etc.)

"Ok! Now let's really get this party started!" the twins declared after everyone was about halfway done with their first or second bottle, respectively.

_Oh, so it's a party now? _Haruhi thought. Everyone seemed fairly sober, though…except for Tamaki, but as previously stated, he always seemed like he was drunk, so he didn't really count.

"Alright!!" Renge exclaimed, and laughed, "So what're we 'onna do?"

The brothers grinned at each other. "Why, Spin The Bottle of course!" they exclaimed, placing one of their empty bottles in the middle of the messy circle of people.

"You seem pretty insistent on that idea," Haruhi murmured, recalling the first time they had sat in a circle like this.

"It'll be more fun thish time," Hikaru said, winking at her.

"Only if there'sh same-gender kissin' allowed," Renge declared.

"Why, you wanna kiss Haruhi or somethin'?" Kaoru asked her.

"Now listen, you, you…Haruhi ish a very dear friend o' mine. Of coursh I only requested thish because I 'anna see you boysh kissh!"

Haruhi silently thanked any god-like beings that the twins had only brought back two cases of the alcohol.

Yet before either could answer Renge's demand, Tamaki exclaimed, "YEUR OHN!"

* * *

Despite the fact that they had been the ones who wanted to play, the twins decided to let Renge spin first. Haruhi was thankful that the other girl had landed on Kyoya and not her. She leaned over the black-haired boy, ready to kiss him, when suddenly she realized something. "Honestly," she murmured, taking his glasses off. She kissed him, roughly, and would have had him completely on the floor had Mori not pulled her off of him, though she began giggling the whole while.

_Please, _Haruhi prayed, _Don't let her kiss me…_

When she snapped back to reality, Kyoya had already spun and, coincidentally, landed on his roommate, Tamaki. He stood up and walked over to the side of the room the blonde was on, and yanked him to his feet. However, it was Tamaki who seemed to get the most pleasure out of the kiss, as he began leaning onto Kyoya and wrapped his arms around his neck. Apparently, either Kyoya didn't mind or the alcohol had impaired his mind to a point where he didn't care, because, to Renge's enjoyment (and perhaps Haruhi's, too?) he let his friend do this for a few moments before pulling away, causing the blonde to topple to the floor, and going back to his seat, looking as composed as ever.

Tamaki spun, and landed on Hikaru. "Er…Am I supposhed to kissh dem bofh?"

Drunken speech and all, he made a valid point. Last time, the twins had pretty much acted as one person; this time would be a bit harder.

"I don't see why not," Kaoru answered with a sly smile.

And so, Tamaki leaned over to kiss Kaoru. Their lips were pressed firmly together, but it only lasted for a few moments, as the pressure Tamaki put on the other boy was about to make him fall backwards. As soon as Kaoru pulled away, Tamaki felt Hikaru's lips being pressed against his own, and it soon felt as though they were competing to see who could kiss with more force. Ultimately, Tamaki lost, and ended up falling on Kaoru anyway, who Tamaki was leaning over to reach his older brother.

The twins, to the jealousy of the other boys (as jealous as they could feel, anyway), managed to land on a girl. That girl happened to be Haruhi. _Well…It had to happen sooner or later, I suppose, _she thought miserably, _But why did it have to be them!?_ The brothers yanked her to her feet, similarly to how Kyoya had done to Tamaki. As soon as she was standing, she felt her lips collide with one of the twins…Hikaru? No, it had to be Kaoru. But then where was Hi—

"Ahh…" she groaned against Kaoru's mouth as she felt his brother kissing at her neck. _So this is how they can still operate as one, _she thought, but that soon became difficult to do. _How are they so good at this? _She wondered, involuntarily moving her lips against Kaoru's. In fact, it felt so good…_Oh my god…I am _not _getting turned on by these two!_ She began to thank the heavens when their lips left their body, but was interrupted when she felt a different set of lips on hers, and realized that they had merely switched jobs. It felt different, but still so good…perhaps _too _good... Hikaru was putting more pressure on her lips than Kaoru had, and something about that felt amazing. _Wait…_when had she wrapped her arms around Hikaru's neck? And when had Kaoru wrapped his around her waist?

After what seemed like forever but had really been less than a minute, the twins left her, and she sat down again. She stared at the bottle lying in the middle for a moment before she realized it was her turn to spin it. _I swear, if I get those two again, I'm going to kill myself._

Lucky for her, she landed on Hunny, who, seeming to sense her confusion, bewilderment, and…whatever else she was feeling, merely smiled and made their kiss short and sweet. Literally sweet; he tasted like vanilla. Haruhi was thankful to lean against the wall and collect her bearings as Hunny spun, and landed on Renge. His kiss with her was only a moment longer than the one he had shared with Haruhi, and she assumed it had felt the same to the other girl.

Ironically, when Renge spun, she landed on Mori. As she leaned over and kissed him, he surprisingly closed his eyes and held her until she ended it a few moments later. When she did, it looked like she smiled at him for a moment before sitting back down, but Haruhi couldn't tell for sure. The mouth of the bottle seemed to be attracted to Hunny, because that's who Mori landed on. However, their kiss lasted longer than all the ones they had shared with the girls combined, yet it appeared to be just as sweet, with no battle for power, and when they parted, Hunny giggled.

Hunny landed on Tamaki, shared a brief kiss, and then Tamaki landed on Mori, sharing another brief kiss. Mori didn't seem to mind spinning again so soon…until he landed on the twins. He decided to kiss Kaoru first, and while it wasn't all that bad of an experience, Hikaru was able to pick up the fact that he wasn't exactly enjoying it all. Therefore, when he kissed Hikaru, Hikaru made sure to throw his arms around Mori's neck and deepen the kiss as much as he could, practically pulling the older boy on top of him. When they pulled away, Mori was bewildered, though he tried to keep his composure, and as he went back to his seat next to Hunny, Hikaru and Kaoru laughed and finished the rest of their drinks.

Again, when the twins spun they landed on a girl, but this time the girl was Renge. While they gave her the same treatment they had given Haruhi, she seemed less sober, which made it a bit harder. The kisses were sloppy and Renge ended up laughing throughout them. It ended when she leaned a bit too far into Hikaru's kiss, and the three ended up on the floor.

Yet when Renge spun, it was time for the boys to get some enjoyment out of the situation; she landed on Haruhi. _W-W-Why? Why do I have to get the worst people to kiss? _Haruhi thought as her less-than-sober friend took her in her arms and pressed her lips against hers. Oddly enough, it didn't feel as bad as Haruhi expected, especially when she didn't think about the fact that she was kissing a girl. Perhaps applying lip balm every five minutes wasn't such a bad thing; her lips were amazingly soft. But their lips were separated before long, and Haruhi found herself spinning yet again. This time, she landed on Mori. He smiled at her, as if to reassure her that it wouldn't be as bad as the other kisses she'd had (minus Hunny's, which wasn't so bad). Their kiss was soft and enjoyable; it was a girl's dream first kiss, and she actually almost regretted it ending so soon.

Mori spun and landed on Kyoya, kissing briefly, though when they pulled away, they did so slowly and almost reluctantly (or so it appeared). Kyoya got the bad luck of landing on Renge again, though was glad he got to control the kiss, because when she wrapped her arms around him and tried to pull him down, _he_ pulled away.

Again, Renge spun, and this time landed on Tamaki. Everyone could see how enjoyable the kiss was; in fact, when they finally pulled apart, Renge murmured, "Wow…" as she stumbled back to her seat.

_Stupid drunk bastard, _Haruhi thought, but was soon surprised to see that the bottle had landed on her. Though she was reluctant at first, she soon became very passionate about the kiss as he moved his lips against hers, and she leaned forward on her hands to press against his lips more (they were sitting down). He returned this favor by wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulled her even closer. She felt her heart rate going off the charts again; she was pressed so tightly against him…It wasn't quite as sweet as Hunny's, but not nearly as erotic as the twins'. But when she felt his mouth opening against hers, trying to get her to do the same, she pulled back, flustered.

Despite this, Haruhi spun, making sure not to look at Tamaki again. This time, however, she landed on Kyoya. But she didn't walk over to him. All she could think about was the feeling of his hands on hers, how close he had stood to her earlier that day. _H-How am I supposed to kiss him after all that? Even though I'm sure it's nothing…I can't!_

Luckily, Hunny seemed to be looking out for her that night, and pointed out the time; it was after midnight. "Well, you know what happened last time we stayed up too late!" With this said, everyone headed in.

"Ahw, man! I kinna wanted tuh see Hikaru 'n' Kaoru kissh. I mean, really, how hot would that be?" Renge complained.

_She's a fangirl at heart, _Haruhi thought, rolling her eyes.

"Well, if you insist…" Kaoru said, leaned over, and kissed his brother. Though the older one seemed surprised at first, they soon seemed to be getting quite into it, with what looked like open mouths and roaming hands, and despite Renge's cheering, Haruhi felt she had to stop it.

"Bed!" was the only thing she could think to say.

The twins pulled apart and looked at her. "Eh? You wanna see ush in bed? Haruhi, I never thought…from _you_…"

Haruhi felt herself blushing. "No-NO! I mean, everyone get inside. We're going to bed _now!_"

Everyone stumbled inside rather quietly, Tamaki being practically dragged by Kyoya and Renge being led by Haruhi. They each went to their respective rooms and mumbled goodnight to the others.

"Ah, whoopsie, Haruhi!" Renge said almost as soon as they had gotten into their room. "I gotta go to the bafroom for…er…girl thingsh?"

Haruhi sighed and sent her off with the needed resolution. _I should probably go with her to make sure she doesn't do something stupid_, Haruhi thought. However, when she opened the door to follow after her slightly-drunken friend, Kyoya was standing there. "K-Kyoya? Why are you here? Is Tamaki alright?" she asked. _Oh god, oh god, oh god! Why now? And why am I so nervous? He's just my friend, and hardly that._

"He's fine; he fell asleep as soon as I made him lay down," came the reply.

"Oh…then what brings you here?"

"I never got my kiss," he answered, taking a step forward and surprising the young woman in front of him. Though her mind was too muddled to think it, her body instinctively took a step back. As he continued to approach her and she continued to back away, she soon found herself backed against her bed. _Shit…this is worse than before! _she thought, panicked. She thought she saw a smirk on his face; she felt his hands grasp her wrists, and though she tried to struggle, she was much smaller than he, and he was able to push her onto the bed without much trouble. Her mind blurred; she felt him pin both of her hands above her head with one hand, and though she could feel herself thrusting her head back and forth, still trying to break free, he managed to catch her chin in his free hand. A moment after that, she felt his lips press against hers, warm. Against her struggle for freedom, she found his lips oddly calming, and within a few minutes no longer struggled. Finding her no longer resisting, Kyoya let go of her hands and chin, and instead placed his hands on either side of her head. Haruhi's mind was still in a whirlwind, feeling those same feelings she had felt when the twins had kissed her, and could hardly process what was going on, though she did feel his lips part hers, his tongue sneaking in, caressing hers. She was tempted to do the same, and probably would have done so, had they not heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and quickly parted, standing up and composing themselves.

"That was all I wanted; nothing more," was what he whispered in her ear, and without her noticing, was gone. Not a moment later, Renge walked through the door.

"Hey…Wush that Kyoya who jus' lef'? Wut wush he doin' in here?"

Haruhi, however, decided to ignore her and just collapse into the bed- the same one on which she had been pinned to, helplessly only moments before.

**Hmm…was that **_**really **_**all Kyoya wanted? Hmm…YES, it was based on the 9****th**** chapter of the manga. Which I just re-read down the shore. I'm scared some people are gonna yell about this one lol. Don't be too harsh, as I have zero self-esteem as it is :D But this is AU, so not being totally IC is actually probably IC for an AU…make sense? XD That's just how I feel, but whatever. OH AND THE ALCOHOL LOL. Yeah…They never do anything "bad" in this series. Sand Chronicles is also about teens, and they drink, so…pretend it's set in that universe? XD Or in ours. By the way…17, and never had alcohol :D I'M GOING STRONG!**

**Oh. And anyone think it was Renge who was gonna show up? ;D**

**Anyway. Working on the next chapter. The stanza doesn't give me much to work with DX I'll make it work…**


	3. Over My Head

**I hated this stanza. I ended up staring at the screen for…a few hours, maybe? before finally forcing myself to type. It was like a freaking essay for school ftw. I wanted to have the twincentric thing later on, but it ended up working better here. P.S. I _think_ burnt toast and ice cold helps hangovers? I read it somewhere, but I can't remember where. I hope you can see how _some_ of this is paralleling the actual (manga) storyline…**

**YES THIS CHAPTER HAS YAOI. YES IT HAS TWINCEST. IT'S OHSHC; WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?**

**White Houses**

**Over My Head**

_It's alright, and it's nice not to be so alone  
But I hold on to your secrets_

_In white houses…  
Maybe I'm a little bit over my head  
I come undone at the things he said  
And he's so funny in his bright red shirt  
We were all in love and we all got hurt_

The next day, everything went back to normal. Well, almost everything. As Haruhi passed Kyoya in the hallway, she felt herself blush and hurried quickly past him. He, however, showed no signs that anything had occurred between them the previous night, and she began to wonder if he had actually been extremely drunk and just couldn't remember. But he showed no signs of a hangover, and so she decided that couldn't be it. She finally decided that it had only be amusement for him, a "one-time fling" kind of thing, and so there should be no reason to bring it up again, and she tried not to think about it.

However, that didn't mean none of them suffered hangovers. While the twins, whose bodies were more used to the effects of alcohol than the others and suffered only minor headaches each, Haruhi found herself burning toast for Renge and Tamaki, who claimed to remember nothing that had happened. While this appeared true for Renge, Tamaki was able to recall something, if only one thing. He remembered the sweet kiss he had shared with a certain girl: the one who was currently trying to cure his hangover.

"Mmm…Haruhi, what happened last night?" he asked her upon one of her trips into his room. He took the piece of burnt toast she handed him and nibbled at it unhappily. He didn't understand how that and ice cold water helped with hangovers, but as it was actually working, he didn't really mind all _that_ much.

"If you really want to know, maybe you should have stayed sober," she chided him, not meeting his eyes.

Tamaki felt a bit guilty. "Well….the twins said-"

"If they told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it!?" she exclaimed, glaring at him. _Wait…why am I getting so angry?_

Unbeknownst to her, Tamaki was wondering the same thing, and shut up immediately.

After a moment's silence, Haruhi apologized. "I guess I'm just tired from running back and forth." After another, she added, blushing ever so slightly, "Do you still want to know what happened last night?" _He doesn't need to know _everything_…_

Instead of the answer she expected, however, Tamaki smiled and said, "No, not really."

Haruhi deadpanned. _All that…_ "Well, fine, then," she answered, and as she was just about to leave the room, turned back, looked like she was about to say something, but decided against it, and left Tamaki to himself.

However, he wasn't alone long before an identical set of heads popped into his room.

"So…" one started (he never _could _tell them apart).

"…Tono…" the other continued.

"…It seems like you like Haruhi," they finished together.

Tamaki immediately turned beet red. "N-n-n-no, you must be mistaken!" he exclaimed, waving his arms about violently. He continued ranting on for a few minutes, waving his arms about, before the twins, convinced of his true feelings, interjected.

"Do you want to hear what Renge told us?"

"-And furthermore, if I _ever_- …Renge? What would she have to tell you?"

The brothers looked at each other with a mixture of slyness that they knew something Tamaki didn't, and satisfaction that they had caught his attention.

"Well," Kaoru started, "We went to see how she was feeling a little while ago. While we were, she told us that last night, she'd left the room for no more than five minutes, but when she came back, Kyoya was leaving it (and he hadn't been there when she had left), and Haruhi refused to answer any of her questions on the matter."

"Of course," Hikaru added hastily, "She's not in much better condition than you, so whether this is true or if she dreamt it we really don't know…"

Tamaki, however, didn't appear to hear him. "H-Haruhi…and Kyoya? Why? How?"

"All I know is that she refused to kiss him after landing on him during our Spin The Bottle game, but that's the last _I_ heard of anything," Hikaru answered.

_Oh…So that's all it was last night? _"But still, something must be done!" Tamaki exclaimed, ignoring the headache that the twins had only worsened.

"All you have to do is take her to town," Kaoru explained, "Take her to dinner, see a movie, hold her hand a bit, then come back late and have a late-night swim. It's half-way through our third week here; time is running out, you know."

Tamaki had only begun to consider this when the subject of their conversation appeared in the doorway. Surprised to see the twins there, when the other three boys were said to have been out back, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Just visiting our poor inmate," Hikaru seemed quick to answer now that it was Haruhi he was talking to.

"Well, you'd better leave. You're probably making him feel worse. Go hang out with the others and stay out of trouble, alright?"

"Sure thing, _mom_," the two answered simultaneously, going around her on either side to get out the door. As Hikaru passed, he placed his hand on her head momentarily, then passed by.

"Sorry, I should really hire a babysitter for those two," she grumbled.

"Ah…Haruhi, I was wondering…well, would you like to go to town later this week?" _Might as well seize the opportunity while I can…_

"Hm? Oh, sure, that might be fun!" she answered, and Tamaki inwardly sighed with relief, until she continued: "Have you asked the others about it yet? I mean, I'm fine with it…do you want me to ask them for you?"

"O-oh. Sure," he replied dejectedly.

"You okay?" she asked him, feeling his forehead, and he blushed. "I swear, if those two made you worse…"

"No! Really, I'm fine!" he replied happily, not willing to let her know the real reason why he was disappointed.

* * *

"Hikaru, are you alright?" Kaoru asked his brother as they sat on their bed a few minutes after their visit to Tamaki's room.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he replied, and laid down, staring up at the ceiling. However, within a few moments, his bother's worried face came into his view.

"You can't lie to me," he commented, but didn't push farther. When Hikaru didn't say anything else and avoided his eyes, Kaoru laid down next to him. After a few more moments of awkward silence, he reached for his brother's hand, but no sooner had he touched it than Hikaru pushed him away- literally- and sat up.

"Why would you do that!?" he exclaimed, looking at his surprised younger brother's face in anger.

"What do you _mean_? It's never bothered you before! Hikaru…you're acting strange. _What's the matter?_" Kaoru sat up and edged nearer to his brother, who refused to look him in the eyes.

"It's nothing."

"Liar. You're shaking."

"I said it's-! Fine. Just…don't hate me."

Kaoru almost laughed. "How could I ever hate _you_?" he asked, edging up to his brother, and lightly kissed his nose.

"Stop that!"

"Stop _what_?"

"That! Kissing and hand-holding and everything _else_ we've _ever_ done. It's just…it's not right! Don't you understand?" Hikaru closed his eyes, trying to block out his brother's face. He could feel tears behind his eyelids, but refused to let them pass.

"What are you talking about? Hikaru, what…? What are you saying?"

"Maybe…Maybe I loved you once. Maybe not. But I can't anymore. It's time we moved on. Just forget everything that happened. I know you must be disgusted with it, too. I mean, really, aren't you _bothered_ by it?"

"Hikaru…?"

"I like Haruhi, ok!?"

Kaoru was silent for a moment. "You can't mean that. You've hardly known her three weeks. You don't even _know _her yet!"

"It _feels_ like I do. I…I know what I feel! I didn't even want to tell Tamaki what we heard from Renge, because I don't want him to love her, too. I only did it because you wanted to! All those things we've done before don't matter anymore. _I. Don't. Love you._"

"…I understand," said Kaoru quietly, in a voice barely above a whisper, with a tinge of tears in it. He got up and left without saying another word.

Hikaru immediately felt terrible. No matter what their relationship, the two had always been extremely close; inseparable. He knew that he could sometimes say things that would hurt his younger brother, but Kaoru would always forgive him. Now he knew, merely to get a point across, a point he didn't wholly believe in himself, just for a tinge of feeling he wasn't entirely sure he could distinguish, that he'd only even mentioned because Kaoru kept pushing him, he had crushed his brother. However, he was never any good at apologizing, and so just sat there for a minute. He hoped the knock he heard on his door was Kaoru, but when it opened, it turned out to be the person they had been discussing the second time that day.

"Hikaru…Is Kaoru alright? I just saw him leave the room looking like he wanted to hang himself or something," Haruhi asked.

"It's fine," Hikaru mumbled, though her comment made him feel worse than he'd already been feeling, "We just…had a bit of a disagreement."

"Well that's dumb," Haruhi said straight out, and Hikaru felt a tinge of annoyance, "Whatever happened, you should apologize right away. I mean, I've only known you a few weeks, but I've never seen you two apart."

"What did you come here for?" Hikaru asked to change the subject, tired of the lecturing, and trying not to look her in the face.

"…Oh, right. You want to go to town towards the end of this week?"

He immediately forgot everything else, from Kaoru (well, mostly) to the fact that _they'd_ been the ones to suggest to _Tamaki_ to take her to town. He got off his bed and walked over to her, so that they were standing a little too close for Haruhi's comfort, and she took a step back, remembering slightly the incident of last night. "Haruhi…Does this mean you like me?"

"…What?" she seemed bewildered; however, he tried again.

"Well, aren't you trying to ask me out on a date?"

"…Uh…Not really. Tamaki thought of it. We're all going to go to town at the end of this week- well, whoever wants to. Why? Hikaru…Wait…was that what your argument was about? Do you," Haruhi blushed, "Like me?"

Looking at her face and seeing he may still have a chance, he answered, "I think so."

"I don't," she replied swiftly, though she was still blushing a little, "I'm flattered that you think that, but I think you're misunderstanding your feelings. Think about it: our personalities, first of all, I do not think would go together. How many common interests do we share? And favorite activities? We're too different. And anyway, _why_ do you think you're in love with me?"

"Um…well…I…" he stuttered. Now that he was confronted with the question, he didn't know how to answer it. How was she so prepared for this!? "I dunno…It just feels like it. I mean, like now. It feels different than if I were with another girl."

"_When _do you recall feeling these feelings first?"

"Well, it hasn't been too long, I'll admit that. But I couldn't get you off my mind last night!"

"You mean after you kissed me?"

"After…I…"

Haruhi couldn't help laughing a little. "_Trust_ me, you do not love me. You're just a typical guy."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Hikaru interrupted her.

"It means you're a kiss-o-holic, or something of the like. Look, you only think you like me because you kissed me, and I guess you liked it? But that's not love. And I'm sure if you think about it, you'll realize that love isn't about those feelings you get when you kiss someone, but the feelings that led you to want to kiss them in the first place, and that does _not _include getting drunk. And it doesn't matter how unorthodox those feelings may be, if you love someone, _you love them_. Think about which love is stronger; I can assure you that what you feel for me is just a fleeting fancy." With that, Haruhi turned and walked to the door, but stopped when she reached it, turned, and asked, "Are you two coming to town or not?"

"Uhh…Yeah," was all he could utter after her speech. When she left him, he ended up laying on the bed again, contemplating all she'd said, and not even realizing what half her words implied, before thinking himself into sleep.

* * *

"Their relationship is sure strange, indeed," Haruhi muttered to herself as she walked back to her room from the twins'. She hadn't meant to overhear the argument the two had had, but with their raised voices, how couldn't she? Luckily, it hadn't been loud enough for the others to hear, because if it had been, and they'd implied the same things she had, she didn't know what would have happened. She only hoped that her words would solve any issues the two were having.

Although she was an only child, Haruhi knew enough about boys from her father, who constantly warned her about them, telling her stories of all kinds. Besides that, enough people she'd known had been in relationships and broken up after a month (people in school would always talk about private things, even if she was nearby, because they thought she wasn't listening, and because she was "unpopular"). Therefore, through reasoning, she was able to easily guess what was going through Hikaru's head. She just didn't want him to make a mistake, and prayed he hadn't already made one.

* * *

When Hikaru awoke about an hour later, he found the covers pulled up over his body. He didn't really need to wonder who had done it; it could have only been one person. As he sat up, he realized the air conditioning was on fairly high, and silently thanked him in his head, and made a resolution to apologize the second he got the chance.

However, that chance didn't come easily. While neither appeared exactly _cold_ to each other in hopes of letting the others in the group be ignorant as to the degree of their argument, Kaoru always seemed to uncharacteristically try to avoid his older brother for the next few days. If he was in the pool and Hikaru came out to join him, he would coincidentally discover that it was getting chilly, and claimed he'd rather be inside. He made sure to take late-evening walks, starting when Hikaru turned in for the night, and took so long that he was asleep (against his will) before Kaoru climbed into bed. Each morning, Hikaru would find the bed empty, as Kaoru had gotten up prior to him.

However, within only three days of their argument (which Hikaru still felt was too long) was the designated date that the group was to go to town. That meant that the two would be in a very close vicinity to each other, whether they liked it or not, giving Hikaru a chance to apologize at some point.

Also during this time, when he hadn't been watching his brother, Hikaru had been watching Haruhi. As he watched her and thought about her, he realized that what she had said had been all or mostly true (that, or he was thinking about the way she said he didn't like her so much that he actually convinced himself he _didn't_). He did feel affection for her, but more as a friend, or even a sister, not as a lover. Well, he had felt something for her those few hours, but like she said, it must have been a fleeting crush, and he hardly felt anything more by the time they went to town. He became annoyed that he'd done something so stupid as to mis-recognize his feelings, but then, was even more determined to make amends with Kaoru. He also resolved to never kiss Haruhi (or anyone else…besides Kaoru) again.

On Kaoru's part, he didn't want to avoid his brother like the plague, but he knew that when he was mad, he could sometimes stay mad for quite a while, so it was better to stay clear (he obviously didn't know that Hikaru was already eager to apologize). Plus, he knew that if he made his brother feel bad, his anger would dissipate faster. While it hurt him to hurt his brother, he figured it would be in their best interests. Besides, it wasn't as if Hikaru hadn't hurt him first, and Kaoru wasn't sure _he'd_ completely forgiven him for that yet.

As it was, the group first decided to go out to eat when they first got to town (boys were treating, of _course_). No one could agree on where to go, but when Renge mentioned, "But _I _hear that Haruhi's never had giant tuna," it was decided; all the boys immediately urged her to let them take her to a sushi place. However, it was only after the group had sat down to eat that they learned there was no giant tuna left, as the next shipment was to come in early the next morning.

_What kind of sushi place runs out of giant tuna!? _Haruhi thought angrily, resting her forehead on top of the table. The others took the liberty of ordering for her.

It was about halfway through the meal when Kyoya said it. The only two people who were really making an effort to talk were Renge and Hunny. Haruhi made a comment here and there, but she was no doubt still upset over the ruined chance to try her most coveted dish, and he knew Mori's character well enough to know that him not talking was nothing to worry over. In fact, it would be more worrying if he was talking as much as the twins or Tamaki normally did.

But that was just the problem. Neither Hikaru, Kaoru nor Tamaki _were _talking. He thought over the possible reasons why this strange occurrence was occurring, and while he figured the twins must be fighting over something (it was only natural between family members, no matter how close they were), he couldn't figure out why Tamaki was so abnormally silent, unless _he _was caught in the middle of it all, and so decided to approach the problem directly.

"Are you three fighting or what?"

Perhaps not the most poetic thing that had ever come out of his mouth, but it sure got everyone's attention (by "getting everyone's attention", we mean that everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Kyoya like he had two heads, though he was somehow able to keep his cool).

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Renge said to him after a moment.

Kyoya decided to ignore her, which was easier said than done, as she was wearing a low-cut shirt and short skirt. "Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki. Are you three fighting?" he repeated.

"_We're not fighting!_" the twins exclaimed at the same time, though they were sitting a few seats away from each other.

"Oh…yeah, I don't know what's going on. I'm just thinking about some stuff, no worries!" said Tamaki with a fake, bright smile. In truth, he was thinking of how to win over Haruhi's heart, because it was true; for the past week and a half, she'd been filling his mind. There was something about her that caught his eye…she was cute, intuitive…He couldn't even think of every single thing that attracted him to her because there were too many!

Kyoya looked at them silently before turning to Haruhi. If anyone else was likely to perceive anything, it was her. "What do you think?" he asked her.

"M-me?" Haruhi asked, pointing to herself. "Oh…No, trust me, they're not fighting or anything. I'll bet they just stayed up too late last night and are tired." _I don't know what's up with Tamaki, _she thought to herself, _But Hikaru, Kaoru…your secret's safe with me. I know if they found out you really _were_ fighting, they'd want to know why, and I don't think that would turn out so well._

"See? Nothing to worry about!" Renge and Hunny exclaimed happily, and everyone continued with their meals.

Kyoya still had his doubts, but didn't push the matter further, and instead wondered why Haruhi was covering for whatever was going on.

* * *

After their meal ended, they went on a shopping expedition. Because Renge said so. They split up almost immediately upon entering the mall, almost before the person who was smart enough to think of it called out the time to meet back there.

It was a good thing, too. Due to differences in speed and the large crowds that were there (it was a brilliant idea to go on a Saturday!), everyone became separated from one another (except for Mori and Hunny, the latter of which was being carried on the former's back). Renge was disappointed that she couldn't drag Haruhi into clothes shopping with her, while Haruhi was glad she could escape Renge's clutches for once; as much as she liked her, she knew she'd have her clothes shopping until they were to meet up with the others. Haruhi used this as an opportunity to buy a souvenir for her dad (_Shouldn't it be the other way around? _He's_ the one who's out of the country…_). Any extra time and money would be used for clothes shopping. Maybe.

Hikaru fully intended to apologize to Kaoru as soon as everyone else was out of sight, but by the time they were, so was his brother, leaving him to follow in whatever direction he thought his twin had gone in. Kaoru, however, believed Hikaru to still be mad at him, and didn't intentionally avoid him; he figured that if Hikaru wanted to come with him, he'd have followed. Kaoru ended up window-shopping while Hikaru ended up Kaoru-shopping. Mori and Hunny spent their time visiting one sweets shop after another for the entire time, occasionally running into someone else from the group but who had a different destination. Tamaki, convinced that material items were the way to a girl's heart, ended up looking in several department stores. Kyoya ended up in the first cyber café he found; there was no computer or internet in their summer house, and decided it was better to use his time checking up on things than to waste it shopping. Anyway, what kind of guy is into shopping?

As it was, it took Haruhi the whole two hours to find something for her father. She wandered from store to store, looking for something that he might like. Make that something he might like and inexpensive; she didn't exactly have 85 on her for a sewing machine. She ran into Hunny and Mori at one point; Hunny suggested cakes and sweet things (she hadn't realized how much he liked them until then!), to which she lied, saying he was a diabetic. Mori saw through it, and smiled at her, which was rare for him, and patted her on the head, and they continued on their separate ways.

Eventually, almost when she'd given up hope, she found something. She'd hardly been looking; she'd been discouraged to that point, when something caught her eye. She wasn't sure why she was so drawn to it; it was just a picture frame, after all, nothing very extraordinary. The edges were lined with small roses, twisting and twirling about each other. It was pretty, and yet she knew it would be just the thing to get; simple, yet elegant, it would be perfect to hold the picture of her family, including her late mother, that was currently frame-less (she'd accidentally knocked into it while sweeping shortly before her departure for the summer house, and broke the old frame). She decided to get it for him- it was cheap, too!- paid, and left.

Meanwhile, Tamaki had managed to run into Renge. Even though the mall was huge, they both just happened to be looking for the same type of things, and so they found each other about half an hour before they were all to meet back up. He tried to pretend that he hadn't seen her, but he'd already caught her eye; his shirt was bright red.

And when Renge asked straight out why Tamaki would be in the _girl's _clothing section, he had no choice but to come out and tell her. After a while.

"Uh…well, see…"

"…Yes…?"

"There's…something I want to get."

"…For _yourself_?"

"No! Of course not; why would I wear girls' clothing?!"

"Then what are you doing in the _girls' _clothing section?"

"Well…I'm here because…"

"Because…?"

"…C'est au cause d'Haruhi! Parce que je l'aime!" (A/N It might be a bit off, and I don't know how to do accents, but it's French. Translation: "It's because of Haruhi! Because I like her!")

"Tamaki?"

"…Yes?"

"Mon pere est francais. Je connais beaucoup de la langue." (A/N Also might be a bit off, accents won't work, French as well. Translation: "My father is French. I know a lot of the language.")

"Oh."

"So have you told her yet? And by 'told', I mean in a language she actually _knows_."

"Well…no. Not exactly."

"Not exactly?"

"Well, not at all, really. But that's why I'm looking for something to give her! I'm hoping I can find something she really likes, and I'll catch her alone, sitting by the pool, just as the sun is setting, at that perfect time when the sky is a rosy pink! I'll walk up to her, and she'll look at me with curiosity in those big brown eyes of hers, and I'll hand it to her, silently. She'll look astonished as she sees what it is- 'Oh, Tamaki! You're so thoughtful!'- and invite me to sit with her. Then, we shall watch the sun set together, in each others' arms."

"…Are you quite done? Alright, I'm going to help you. Because you need all the help you can get."

And with that, they set off. Renge had several bags full of clothes already (which she made Tamaki carry, and so people thought _they_ were a couple), so she saw no harm in helping him. Plus, she was the closest out of the group to Haruhi; her advice was sure to be invaluable!

They decided to steer clear of the big department stores and clothing stores; Haruhi was feminine, but not _girly_. They decided to get her something so beautiful, so exquisite, that _no girl_ would be able to turn it down. They came across a store that prided itself on its glass creations. In the windows they saw pretty little animals, flowers, people, and more made out of glass, and decided to venture inside. In the store, they found dozens of more creations, but while Renge pranced all around the store (as the man at the counter glared at her), declaring, "Buy this one, it's so pretty! Oh, no, wait! Look at these trees with a swing between them! Oh no wait, this one is just _so_ beautiful!", Tamaki had already decided which one to get.

By the time he had paid, it was just about time to meet up with the others, so that's where they went.

Kaoru was the only one missing when Hikaru joined the group. When he came up to everyone else, he was looking worried. "Kaoru isn't here yet?" he asked, and everyone could hear the anxiety in his voice.

"Wouldn't he be with you?" Kyoya asked.

"W-Well…"

"Kaoru wanted to do some shopping by himself for a bit," Haruhi stepped in, trying to keep her voice calm. "I mean, you can't shop for someone if you're right next to him, right? Sorry, I heard you guys talking about it," Haruhi lied.

"Y-Yeah," Hikaru agreed, silently thanking her for making up a story for him. "We were supposed to meet back up, but…" he couldn't even think about something happening to Kaoru. No. Not before he'd gotten a chance to apologize to him, before he'd gotten to tell him…

"We should all go looking for him," Tamaki declared.

"We could tell mall security," Hunny suggested, and Mori nodded in agreement.

"N-No…that's alright. I should find him myself," Hikaru decided.

"Hikaru!"

"But what if-?"

"You guys start heading back. I'll call you when I find him."

"Wait," Haruhi stopped him.

"Yeah?" Hikaru asked, with such an expression on his face that she swallowed, and almost didn't ask him.

"Did you try his cell phone?"

"…He didn't answer." And with that, he was gone. The others decided, with some discussion, they may as well follow his request and return home.

Hikaru tried calling Kaoru's cell phone again, but with no answer. He looked in all the stores he might possibly have gone into; clothing stores, food places, art supplies- but all to no avail. He ended up checking the pet store, the candle shop, the camera place- but he wasn't in any of those, either. Nearly an hour had passed since the others had left, and Hikaru thought he might have a heart attack from the nervousness, worry, and anxiety he felt. What if Kaoru had really been kidnapped? He decided he couldn't wait any longer, and went to find the mall security station. It was only by chance that he happened to pass one of those photo booths, and couldn't help but notice the amount of kids crowded around it.

"Um, what the hell? He's like, sleeping," he heard a girl a year or two younger than him, coated in gaudy make-up and pink, super-girly clothes, say.

"Probably just some homeless guy," Hikaru murmured, but couldn't help but take a closer look. His heart started beating twice as fast when the girl saw him, and looked at him in shock, like she'd just seen a ghost…or a clone. "Ok, everyone, get lost," he waved the kids away.

"Um, you're like, not the boss of us," the girl said to him defiantly.

Hikaru bent down a little to stare her straight in the face. "Get. Lost," he growled at her.

"Ugh. What_ever_."

"But Berezenoff and I want a picture…!"

"…Uh. Find another booth. Scram. Get out."

Once everyone had dispersed, he pulled back the curtain. His knees felt weak, and he almost fell down when he saw the same person he'd been looking for for more than two hours.

"Kaoru. Kaoru, wake up," he nudged him, getting in the booth and pulling the curtain back. He kneeled down and shook his brother's shoulder. "C'mon, Kaoru. Everyone's been real worried about you."

Kaoru slowly opened his eyes to see his brother's face, inches from his, his eyes filled with tears. As soon as Hikaru saw Kaoru's eyes open, he buried his face in his arms on his shoulder, trying not to let himself cry.

"Mmm…Hikaru, you 'kay? You never cry…"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said to you, none of it! I was so worried. I thought…I'm so, so sorry, Kaoru." Hikaru blurted out, and his shoulders started shaking with sobs.

"Hikaru…" Kaoru was fully awake now, and sat up, making his brother move his head from his shoulder. He saw Hikaru's tear-stained face before he wiped his sleeve over it, and on impulse, on instinct, Kaoru kissed him. They pulled back for a moment before embracing each other tightly, and Kaoru whispered, "I was never mad at you. I just thought…that you hated me."

"I'd never do that," Hikaru replied, holding him tighter.

"So what happened with you and Haruhi?"

"Don't worry about that. We talked and she made me realize that she's only my friend; at the most, I like her like a sister."

"Then what does that make me?"

"My twin brother. And…my lover."

And they kissed again.

They were interrupted when Hikaru's phone started ringing. He was tempted to ignore it when he remembered his promise to the others to call them. "_Shit_," he exclaimed, pulling back, and took out his phone.

"Hikaru? Are you okay? And have you found Kaoru yet?" came Tamaki's voice. They were obviously still worried.

"Ah, sorry, tono. I just found him. We're heading back now."

"Ah, that's good!" Tamaki exclaimed, "By the way, on your way back do you think you could pick up a daikon radish?"

"Sure."

"Do we really have to go?" Kaoru asked as soon as Hikaru hung up, and to get his point across, kissed him ever so seductively.

"Our bed's back at the house, though," Hikaru mumbled through his brother's lips.

"Mmm…true," Kaoru answered the same way.

They left the mall holding hands the entire way, ignoring all the stares and dirty looks. As long as they had each other, who gave a damn about the rest of the world?

* * *

"Uhh…You know, we're glad you're safe, Kaoru, but why'd you guys buy beer again?"

"We're not gonna fall for it this time."

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT PLAN YOU TWO DEVILS HAVE IN MIND THIS TIME, BUT IT SHALL FAIL!!" Tamaki proclaimed, jabbing his finger at him. Haruhi couldn't help laughing.

"No such luck," the two replied, smiling devilishly, "This is all for us. Maybe next time." And with that, they retreated to their room for the next day without leaving it once. With a case of beer locked in with them, no one asked, and no one wanted to know; they just left them alone.

And the next day when they left their room, no matter what they did, they were always by each other's side.

It was a few days later when Kaoru and Haruhi happened to meet each other alone in the middle of the night, one leaving the bathroom and the other heading back from a late-night snack.

"Ah…Hey, Haruhi! Thanks."

Haruhi stared at the boy in front of her. "Thanks? For what?"

"Hikaru told me that you made an excuse as to why we'd been separated at the mall the other day."

"So why does that deserve any thanks?"

"Because you know more than you're letting on," Kaoru said with a smile, resting his hand on her head. "And you deserve thanks- possibly more- for not letting the others in on it. But I have to ask, why? I mean, aren't you disgusted or anything?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Haruhi answered, "But back at your home, you're not exactly treated well in school, are you? You said even your parents could hardly tell you apart. You deserve to belong, even if it's to as weird a group as us. I didn't want that to be ruined. And…I don't think it should matter who you love, as long as that love is real. I mean, it may not be socially acceptable, but if you think about it, would it be better to be in a fake relationship with someone you don't _really_ love, just because _society_ says so? Married couples kill each other sometimes, and maybe that's why- because they can't be with the people they really love because of society, and have to deal with someone they hate 24/7. If you're really in love, I don't understand how it could be wrong, because if it's real, love is the purest feeling there is."

Kaoru stared at her for a moment, taking it all in. After a moment, he let out a laugh. "You should go into sociology."

"I want to be a lawyer."

"Whatever you say…" Kaoru pat her head, and went back to the room he and Hikaru shared.

_Don't worry. I'll keep your secret, _Haruhi silently vowed as she walked back to her room and fell asleep.

**Say yes to twincest! D No but seriously. Whew. I got stuck a few times, but I got around it. Surprisingly, HikaKao is NOT the **_**main **_**pairing of this story, but I guess it's like the 2****nd**** biggest one? Yeah. As of my current plans. –rubs hands together evilly-**

**Speaking of, what do you think Tamaki got Haruhi!? Took me a while to think of that too, lol. But you'll see it in the next chapter! Speaking of, I dunno if you caught it, but when he was shopping with Renge, it said Tamaki was wearing a bright red shirt. Later, he made Haruhi laugh. Hence, it fits. Woo! P.S. I added that in at the last moment lol. –cough it's the first time it's really stated that she laughs cough-**

**Speaking of, yes, that was Nekozawa and Mei (reincarnated?) by the photo booth. I had to alter them a bit. I didn't even think of making it Mei until I realized I wrote "gaudy make-up" lol. I really wanted to have the Lobelia girls hit on Haruhi but…Maybe later? D:**

**Thanks to Lit for the word "sociology" –dies-**

**Well. Reviews are lurve! :D**


	4. Love, Or Something

**With the beginning of this chapter, the story is less than half over. By the end, it's over half over. Hurray for odd-chapter-numbered stories!! I had such difficulty deciding on a name for this chapter. I ended up making it a poll on my LiveJournal. But no one answered it, so I kept it what I was originally gonna call it. This stanza is where the song starts to get real bittersweet and makes me cry…**

**I wanted to finish this before summer ended. I wrote the first half of this while it was still summer, but the rest…during school time. Please kill me D:**

**White Houses**

**Love, Or Something**

_I sneak into his car's cracked leather seat  
The smell of gasoline in the summer heat  
Boy, we're going way too fast  
It's all too sweet to last  
It's alright  
And I put myself in his hands  
But I hold on to your secrets in white houses  
Love, or something ignites in my veins  
And I pray it never fades_

_In white houses_

By the time everything had gotten back to normal (or what one could call "normal" in that house), they were well into their fourth week there. Everyone seemed to be gloomy about going home so soon; a final week could pass by in an instant. As if they hadn't seen each other enough the past three weeks, they all tried to spend every waking moment with each other; Haruhi felt herself being tugged this way and that, asked to swim with someone, have lunch with someone else, watch TV with another person; Renge lightened up a little on the boys in terms of controlling them to do her every whim, though whether this was consciously or not, no one knew for sure.

Only Tamaki seemed literally _depressed_. And while the others either ignored it or knew the reason for his acting that way, Haruhi couldn't figure it out. Yes, they'd all grown attached to each other, but they could always call each other during the school year, or talk online. Plus, there was no doubting he had tons of friends at school, unlike her who abhorred the fact that she'd have to go back and be ignored and mistreated by those preppy, self-centered, whorish bitches. Unless he was having family problems that he didn't want to talk about, Haruhi couldn't figure out any other reason for his depression.

Partially because she didn't want to ask him straight out why he was so upset, she tried to talk to him as if it were an aside in a play. Her demeanor would lighten up, and in turn, so would his. They'd find themselves telling and chuckling at petty jokes, until they ran out of things to say.

This behavior didn't slip by the others unnoticed, and both Tamaki and Haruhi were confronted on the matter.

"You like him."

"Uwa-What!?" One minute she'd been reading a book (in her few free moments of silence), and the next, she found herself trapped in her room with Renge, Hunny and Mori.

Renge rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb with me! I'm talking about Tamaki, of course. Please; everyone can see it! The way you two look into each others' eyes, and whisper things meant only for you, and laugh at your little inside jokes? You like him."

Hunny nodded vigorously from Mori's shoulders, and added, "And we think Tama-chan likes you, too, Haru-chan!"

Haruhi stared at them for just a moment before speaking. "Uhh…N-No way. I mean, I…I guess I respect him, or something, but I don't _love_ him! No way! There's no way it'd work out; I mean, we're too different, you know?"

"Opposites attract," Mori said.

"…Mother in heaven…Not you, too, Mori!? Look, he's just seemed a bit down lately, and that's not normal…well, for him anyway. I'm just trying to cheer him up, and that's it."

"Please. I know you're not _that_ blind. The poor boy's probably upset thinking that you don't like him back!" Renge pushed. "And you're just going to let him go on like that?"

"How do you even know he likes me!?"

"But Haru-chan-!"

"Guess there's no way to get through to her," Renge sighed. "I guess we'll just have to hope that the others had more success."

"O-Others?" Haruhi asked. "What do you mean, 'others'!?"

Meanwhile, the twins and Kyoya were confronting Tamaki.

"Hahaha…what do you mean, 'like her'? Of course I like her, I mean, we're all friends here, right?" Tamaki laughed. "Oh, but I suppose I am like a fatherly figure to her. That's what you mean, right?"

"Ah, tono, you know what we're talking about," the twins reprimanded him. "We already talked to you about it, remember?"

"You already talked to him about it?" Kyoya asked them.

"Yeah, but nothing came out of it," Hikaru replied, leaning against his brother.

"Not true!" Tamaki exclaimed, "We all went to eat and we went shopping…and…I bought her something."

"Oh? What did you buy her?" Kaoru asked, curious.

"…"

"Well?" Kyoya pushed.

"…It's a secret. No one else can know until I give it to her…well, except Renge, but only because she helped me pick it out…Kind of."

"Renge, too?"

"Well it's not like it's secret that he likes Haruhi."

"Wait…do you mean she knows, too?" Tamaki asked in a panic.

"Probably," the twins shrugged.

"Really?!" Tamaki exclaimed and the twins laughed at his distress. "What should I do?!"

Kyoya smiled and the light glinted off of his glasses. "If we get you two alone tomorrow, do you think you'd be able to tell her?"

* * *

The next evening, Renge again found Haruhi alone in her room, reading. "Heyyyy, Haruhiii!" She smiled innocently at her friend.

Haruhi looked up for a moment before continuing reading. "If this has anything to do with me liking Tamaki, then I'm locking you out of this room and you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Hahaha, no, it's nothing like that!" _Damnit…_she thought. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a swim, just the two of us."

"How do you know the boys won't come crashing in?" Haruhi replied, not lifting her eyes from her book.

"Oh, they're all outside playing some hockey game on the street. They found a ball somewhere in the house and got a bunch of big sticks and are hitting it around, calling it a sport. Well, all of them except Kyoya, anyway. I think he's reading or something." _And maybe I'll go sit by him once I've accomplished _my_ mission._

Haruhi considered her offer for a moment. "Alright," she replied, closing her book.

"Great! Hurry up and get changed; I'll wait here."

Once Haruhi had gotten changed, she waited outside the door for Renge when she heard her friend call out to her, "Damnit! Haruhi, the strap on my bathing suit broke; I'm going to have to find my other one. Why don't you go out to the pool? Maybe set up the chairs or something; I'll be out there in five minutes."

"You sure you don't want me to wait for you?" Haruhi called to her.

"No, I'm fine!" Renge called back. Haruhi shrugged and went off to the pool, never realizing that her friend hadn't even started to change.

When Haruhi got down to the pool, she expected no one to be there (especially based on the noises coming from the front of the house). When she saw Tamaki sitting there, she was ready to turn back.

_But, _shit_, Renge's gonna be down here in a minute; I can't just abandon her. And…damnit, he's already seen me! Well, just smile and make small talk until Renge comes, I suppose. Why am I even getting so nervous anyway? I mean, he's just some silly guy. But…my chest feels so light, and my head's pounding! Why…?_

"Ah! H-Haruhi! What um…a surprise!" Tamaki tried to appear his usual cheerful self, but Haruhi saw that he appeared a little nervous about something, though it wasn't the same as the depressing cloud that had fallen over him lately.

She tried to be nonchalant. "Ah, hey, Tamaki," she gave a quick wave, "I'm going swimming with Renge; she's coming down in a minute. Hope we won't be interrupting anything?" _"Interrupt anything"!? What is there to interrupt!? He's just sitting there!_

"Oh no, of course not. I'm just…Er…Hey, you wanna sit down while you wait for her?" Tamaki offered, not meeting her eyes.

"U-uh…Sure…" Haruhi knew her friend would be out before long, but it seemed cruel to deny this simple request.

The two sat in silence for a few moments, looking at the water, the trees, the blindingly white house- everything but each other. Their thoughts racing, the silence finally became too much to bear and so they both tried to speak, though unfortunately it was at the same time.

"Tamaki…?"

"Haruhi…"

"Oh! Sorry, you go."

"Nonsense! Ladies first!" Tamaki exclaimed, hoping to delay the inevitable.

"Well it's just…I know it's none of my business, but you've been…kind of depressed lately. You don't have to tell me if you don't want, but if there's anything you need to talk about, I'm here to listen," Haruhi said, forcing herself to look him in the eyes by the end.

"Oh…Well uh…see, that's what I sort of wanted to talk to you about. I um…" he took a deep breath. Why was this so hard? "I…I um…I…Er, I bought you something. You know, the other day," Tamaki managed to get out, and handed her the package that he'd kept hidden behind the chair.

Haruhi opened the box, her heart racing. She pushed aside the Styrofoam peanuts and gasped. She took out his present, a glass rose, and held it delicately across her palms. The stem was green while the flower itself was perfectly clear, reflecting light off of it, throwing little rainbows everywhere.

"Ta…I…It…" Haruhi couldn't speak. Her chest felt tight and weak; in fact, her entire body felt weak. He had bought her this…it was gorgeous, and must have been so expensive. Before she knew it, she felt tears forming at her eyes.

"Oh…Do you not like it? I could return it for something else if you like…Please don't cry!" Tamaki pleaded, and leaned forward to wipe her eyes.

"N-No, I love it," Haruhi found her voice again, and sniffed, "No one's…ever gotten me anything like this before. It's so beautiful. I just…I don't know what to say. Thank you so much, Tamaki." She looked up from the rose in her hands and saw that he was less than a foot away, as he'd leaned forward to stop her tears.

He smiled. "I'm glad," he said quietly, and leaned forward even more. Haruhi closed her eyes, not knowing what he was going to do, but slowly opened them as she felt him lightly kissing her forehead, though he pulled back after a short moment. "I really like you, Haruhi."

"I…Tamaki…" Haruhi placed the rose back in the box and set it next to her so there was nothing between them, using the time to organize her thoughts. Her heart was beating so fast, she didn't trust her mind at that moment, but she had to say _something_. "Me too."

"Ah…R-Really? Y-You do?" Tamaki asked in utter surprise, and in turn took her by surprise by hugging her gently. She surprised _herself_ by raising her arms and hugging him back; she rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She liked the feeling.

They sat like that for a few minutes; neither counted the time. Finally, Tamaki murmured to her, "In that case…would you like to see a movie with me tomorrow evening? Just you and me, no one else."

"…It's not the movie that I'm objecting to. In fact, I'd really like that. But…I can't say I'd feel comfortable walking home in the dark, even if you're there," Haruhi said, still holding onto him.

"Oh. Well, in that case, I could always drive us."

"D…Drive?" Haruhi pulled back to look at him.

"Well yeah. That dark blue car that's always in front of the house is mine. Haruhi…you didn't know?" Tamaki chuckled. "I'm not sure about everyone else, but I know Mori drove with Hunny, and I drove myself."

"But…When we went to town…And then, didn't Renge send the twins to town on errands that one time?"

"First of all," Tamaki laughed, "Not everyone would have been able to fit in both cars, because mine only holds two people. It's actually pretty cool. But anyway, secondly, do you really think I'd trust those two with my car? They probably can't drive anyway."

"O-Oh. Well in that case, it's a d…a date."

"Sure," Tamaki smiled at her again, and took her hand.

"…Let's not tell the others about this just yet, alright?" Haruhi asked, leaning against him; the sun was beginning it's decent down to the horizon.

"Sure."

They didn't even notice that the loud games of hockey-playing had stopped over fifteen minutes ago.

* * *

Once it was twilight, the two decided to go back inside, but went in one at a time, Haruhi first. Just as she entered, she saw Renge on the stairs. "Oh, Haruhi! I was just about to go get you. I was looking _forever_, but I couldn't find my other bathing suit. I fixed the other, but it's a bit late now."

"Oh, yeah. No problem," Haruhi replied, her head still pounding along with her heart, and she quickly hid the box behind her back inconspicuously, and somehow Renge didn't notice. The two started walking back to their room together.

"Well anyway, sorry; I hope you weren't too um…lonely out there for so long?" In reality, Renge had signaled to the others just as Haruhi had gone outside, and everyone had watched the scene unfold from the windows.

"Oh, no! Ta…Ah, I like being alone sometimes. No offense, but um, 15 minutes to myself didn't exactly kill me."

"Ah, I see."

"So…did the others come inside yet?" Haruhi asked, trying to change the subject and shifting the box so her friend couldn't see. _Please don't let her see, please don't let her see, please don't let her see…_

"Oh, yeah, about five minutes ago. They're all sweaty, though, so they're taking showers one at a time, and the others are confined to their rooms until they've showered."

"You're so strict with them," Haruhi laughed as they reached their room and went inside. While Renge wasn't facing her, Haruhi managed to hide the box with the rose in a corner behind some suitcases.

Renge sighed as she sat on the bed. _Why isn't she talking!? _"So what did you do while you were waiting for me? Haha, I'm sorry I took so long."

"Oh, nothing really. I got some chairs and towels out and sat down to wait for you…Er, but I put them back before I came in."

_Is she…keeping this a secret from us? Could I have seen something wrong? No, no way. Will Tamaki say anything? But I guess I'll have to leave that up to Kyoya. At least that'll give me a chance to talk to him…Oh, Kyoya…Ah! That's it! _"So, uh, Haruhi. Can I talk to you about something?"

"You're already talking to me about something."

"Haha, yes well uh. Well, what if I told you I liked one of the boys?"

Haruhi just stared at her blankly, her heart beating on the double, insides melting, thoughts racing. _Wait, does she already know? Did they set us up or something? O-Or is she serious? But…that's _too _ironic. What's she playing at? Should I just go along with it? I mean, it wouldn't be so bad if she found out, but it'd just be so weird!_

"Haruhi?"

"O-Oh…y-yeah? Who?"

Renge giggled. "I'm not saying. Just…someone. So what should I do?"

"_You're_ asking _me_ for advice?"

"I just want to see your opinion," Renge shrugged.

_Is she testing me…? _"I don't know, tell him? I mean, we're all friends. It might be a bit awkward if he rejects you, or even if he accepts you…But uh…" she thought back to when Hikaru confessed to her. "I mean, we all still love each other. In a family sort of way, though. Ah, right, we're like a family, either way."

_So she thinks it would be awkward if she and Tamaki were a couple and the rest of us were just out of the loop? Whatever. I'll just be more direct. _"Is there anyone _you_ like, Haruhi?"

"M-M-Me?"

"No, the _other_ Haruhi. YES, you!"

"O-Oh, well, I don't know. I'm really not sure." This wasn't a complete lie, anyway. Sure, she'd agreed to go on a date with him, but she wasn't sure she _loved_ Tamaki.

"_Who_ aren't you sure about?"

"…No one."

"But you just said-"

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom; be back in a minute."

…_Damn_.

* * *

The next day, the rest of the group noticed the differences in Haruhi and Tamaki's behavior. It was nothing major, just the kinds of things you do around a person when you've only just started going out. They were quick to apologize for little things, and a bit quieter than usual.

With secretive glances at each other, the other six were able to communicate, and left the couple alone by the afternoon, making up various excuses. By the time the last person left, Haruhi and Tamaki were completely alone, television on, and each tried to pay more attention to whatever program was on rather than the person sitting next to them.

However, the other didn't leave either of their minds. They both wanted to say something, but didn't want to at the same time, because the other seemed to be enjoying the TV. Anyway, neither knew what to say.

Over an hour later, Haruhi gathered up her courage and said, "So…The movie…Do you know what time it starts?"

"Oh, um, right!" Tamaki checked the time, "We have about two hours."

"In that case, I'm going to start getting ready. Should we leave in an hour?"

"Yeah, it's a good idea to be early." He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

Maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all.

* * *

When Haruhi entered her room, she found a pink dress lying on her bed. She was certain that with all the packing and re-packing she did, and even with all the overly-feminine clothes her father had insisted she bring, that that dress was _not _hers. As if to confirm this, she found not only various make-up utensils, but a note lying across the piece of clothing:

_At least it's not a sexy, revealing dress, and just a cute one! You can't tell me a guy wouldn't like this. Oh, and the make-up is on loan from me, so don't break anything._

_You have half an hour._

"R-Renge!?" Haruhi exclaimed. _So she _did _know. Gah, she should've just told me! Stupid little… _Nevertheless, Haruhi discarded the clothes she was currently wearing and put the dress on.

She had to admit…it _was_ rather cute. The sleeves were like regular short sleeves on a t-shirt. It wasn't quite form-fitting, but neither was it too loose. It was entirely light pink except for the ends of the dress and sleeves, which flared out a bit and were dark pink.

But cute as it was, she'd never really worn a dress like this before, and felt a little…awkward. Anyway, she didn't have any shoes that would look nice with it, so she dug out a pair of jeans and put them on underneath. She brushed her hair and finally headed to the vanity to put the make-up on. _Uhh…Does Renge realize I've never worn make-up before? Though I guess I just need a little…_ She ended up poking herself in the eyes several times with the eyeliner and mascara, her cheeks bright red rather than a soft pink.

It was about that time that she heard a knock on the door. "Uh…C-Come in!" she called, trying to hide her face and wipe it off with her arm at the same time. She expected to see Renge, but was slightly horrified to see two _other _familiar faces.

When the twins saw Haruhi's make-up coated face, they just stopped and stared. After a moment came, "K-Kaoru-"

"Got it," the younger twins said and dashed off.

"Really, now," Hikaru scolded the girl, "You've never applied make-up before? Good thing we're here."

"Yeah, well, what are you doing here, anyway?"

Hikaru winked at her. "Transforming your beauty to a point that Tono will want to-" He was interrupted as his brother returned, a damp cloth in hand, leaving Haruhi to wonder, _Want to do _what_!?_

They proceeded to remove the make-up Haruhi applied. Then, as Kaoru re-did her make-up, making the changes from her regular appearance subtle, yet not unnoticeable, Hikaru worked on her hair. She ended up with clips adorning her head in all the right places.

"When did you find out? About…y'know, me and…Tamaki?" Haruhi asked quietly once they'd finished.

The two smiled at her and replied, "That would be telling, now wouldn't it?" Haruhi decided to leave it at that; _they'd_ never tell her _anything_. She grabbed a light sweater and was about to leave before they stopped her.

"What are you doing now?" she asked, remotely annoyed.

"If you bring your sweater-"

"-Then you won't get cold."

"And why exactly would I want to get cold?" Haruhi asked. But the two didn't answer, just giving each other secret looks, and refused to let her leave until she left the sweater behind.

She went downstairs and saw Tamaki sitting in the chair, waiting for her nervously. As her heard her approach, he took a look at her, and was dumbfounded for just a moment before saying, "Haruhi…You're so _cute!_" and with that, he glomped onto her.

After explaining to him that she couldn't breathe and he let go, they headed out to the car. She felt like she was sneaking out without permission of the others or something, but convinced herself that it was her decision and she could do whatever she wanted. A great deal of the ride was filled with silence, though they kept trying to break the awkward silence with bits of conversation; compliments on each others' outfits and hair, and Haruhi told Tamaki that the others already knew about them, though he seemed too nervous to care that much.

By the time they reached the theatre, Haruhi was more nervous than when she'd left the house. She felt butterflies in her stomach as he asked for the tickets for them, and she must have been looking pale, because Tamaki told her to sit on a bench as he waited on line to order their snacks for the movie. He kept looking back at her, almost to the point where he missed his turn to order.

"Hey, cutie. Whatcha doing here all by yourself?"

Haruhi looked up to see- yes, it had to be- a woman with a boyish haircut not unlike hers hovering over her.

"Ah…I'm uh…on a date?" Haruhi motioned towards Tamaki. This…was awkward.

The girl looked over at Tamaki as he fumbled with the drinks, causing a huge hold-up in the line. "Tch. Forget him. You do know he'll only end up hurting you? Men are all the same. Come with me instead."

"H-Hold on! I don't even _know_ you!" Haruhi protested, trying to back up in her seat.

"Ah, how rude of me! My name is Benio Amakusa. But really now, why don't you leave him and come with me instead? We're both women; we know we wouldn't hurt each other. But men are _so _unpredictable. Don't you agree? Oh…well, speak of the devil."

Tamaki had finally finished struggling with the drinks and popcorn and was approaching them. "H-Haruhi? Is this a…friend of yours?"

"T-Tamaki!" Haruhi leapt up past Benio and to Tamaki. In a single movement she'd taken a drink from his grasp and clung onto him.

Tamaki was, needless to say, stunned for a moment. "S-Shall we go then?"

"It's not too late…You'll remember this later, unfortunately, that's for sure." The girl sighed.

* * *

"Haruhi, are you alright?" Tamaki asked as they took their seats in the mostly empty theatre. She'd clung to him the entire time without letting go, and even now only let go of him reluctantly.

"Y-Yeah. Sorry," she said. She'd only been scared of what the girl had been saying; Tamaki could never be that cold-hearted, right? _Impossible… _Yet she couldn't stop thinking about it throughout the entire movie, and this didn't go by unnoticed on Tamaki's part. She'd ended up clinging to him- slightly- again, and he pulled her closer so she was resting her head against his shoulder. At first, she was stiff and nervous, but she eventually relaxed into the position. Maybe…a bit _too _much.

"Haruhi. Haruhi. Wake up. The movie's over. Haruhi!" she heard Tamaki calling softly as he shook her shoulder gently.

"Mmm…" she moaned softly as she opened her eyes. It took her a few moments to recall her surroundings, and when she did, she sat up. "T-Tamaki! I-I'm sorry; I fell asleep, didn't I?"

Tamaki laughed. "Yeah, you did. That's alright, though. You wanna go now?"

"S-Sure." _I was asleep for over an hour and he didn't try to pull anything…that's gotta say something, right?_

* * *

They drove home with the windows open. Despite what the twins said, she wasn't cold at all without a sweater; the day had been hot and the sun hadn't set too long ago, so it was still very warm out. She could faintly smell the scent of gasoline whenever the car stopped. The entire trip was relatively calming, and she felt very relaxed, and was almost upset when they arrived back at the house, the one that was so blindingly white that they could see it even in the dark, ending their time alone.

* * *

"K-Kyoya…" Renge had her arms wrapped around his neck, his back against the wall, as she leaned into him more. She put her lips to his, kissing him. He didn't resist, though he didn't completely comply, either. Annoyed, she slipped her tongue in between his lips, and he was more willing to go along with that. He eventually slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer. Their kissing was getting messier.

Haruhi and Tamaki came back into the house quietly, so as not to disturb anyone. When they walked up the stairs and turned towards the rooms, they saw Renge and Kyoya there; they were about to greet them, until they saw what exactly they were doing. In that case, they decided to sneak by the two, and while they believed neither had noticed, neither had seen Kyoya open one eye and watch them walk by, hands entwined.

They reached her door, and stood there for a few moments, silent, avoiding each other's eyes.

"Well…thank you for such a nice night!" Haruhi finally said quietly.

"Sure…" It was his tone of voice that made her look up at him. _He…wasn't that close a moment ago…was he? _She'd barely noticed the closeness of them when she realized that he was kissing her. It was similar to how he'd kissed her that time when they'd played "Spin The Bottle" so long ago, but filled with even more passion than then. She found herself tilting her head; he took a step forward, and held her waist; she slipped her arms around his neck. Soon, they were holding each other closer, closer, and their lips meshed together.

They didn't know how long they were together like that, bodies pressed so closely together, their body temperatures rising, but they eventually broke apart, breathing heavily. They looked at each other momentarily, but couldn't find anything to say. Tamaki leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek and was gone.

Haruhi walked into her room, shutting the door silently, her head swirling and pounding. She changed into her pajamas in a daze.

_He kissed me. He _kissed _me. I mean…I know he's kissed me before, but that was just a stupid game. And this was…it's only the first time that we've gone out, but he _kissed_ me. I can't deny it feels wonderful, but it feels so off at the same time. It feels so fast…Are we moving too fast? Or is this how relationships are supposed to be? But nowadays, relationships never last for very long…So what does that mean? Can I trust him?_

Her thoughts were interrupted as Renge entered the room. "H-Haruhi? When did you get back?"

"Not too long ago."

"Oh. I see. So how did it go?"

"It was…nice."

"Is that it?" Renge probed.

"I'm tired. Can we talk about it tomorrow?"

Renge sighed; she didn't admit it, but she was tired, too. "Whatever…" _So, she didn't see us?_

_Does he love me? Do I love him? Or is this just the feeling of getting high off of someone else's love and kisses?_

**Hopefully it won't take me as long for the next update; I blame school. Plus I've actually been doing my FMA Advice Column –shock- Anyway. We all know this can't have a happy ending now, so if you think this is all going to be cliché and happy…well, just wait till next chapter. Or the chapter after.**

**If you didn't know, the girl who approached Haruhi was Benibara…I completely failed with her, but whatever.**

**And no, it's not strictly TamaHaru. So if I disappointed some of you, just stick with me.**


	5. Rush Of Blood

**Ouran is out in English now. The bloopers are hilarious~ Go buy it. GO.**

**Again, sorry for the wait. MangaNEXT and the time around it was super busy…;D –typing this on Thanksgiving wtf- But…it's a holiday present for you all :D Even though this takes place in the summer D:**

**Aiight, this chapter is a lemon. And if that wasn't obvious, then you obviously haven't paid attention to those lyrics right below…I do realize that some of you aren't comfortable with a sex scene, so if you want to skip over some of it, stop at the first "XXX" and skip down to the next break in the text :) I do it because I care :D**

**White Houses**

**Rush of Blood**

_My first time…_

_Hard to explain  
Rush of blood,_

_Oh! and a little bit of pain  
On a cloudy day,_

_It's more common than you think.  
He's my first mistake._

By the next morning, the "secret" of Tamaki and Haruhi's relationship was no longer a "secret". In other words, everyone was openly talking about it.

"Haru-chan~!! Congratulations!" Hunny hugged her. "See? Didn't we tell you? Didn't we, Mori?"

"Yes," his taller cousin replied, but when Haruhi caught his eye, she saw him smile at her and give a little nod.

"So have you done _it_ yet?" a voice- no, two- whispered in her ear.

"H-Hikaru! Kaoru!" Haruhi jumped and turned around, glaring at them, "That's…Ew, no! And anyway, I wouldn't tell you even if we did. Which we didn't."

The twins laughed. "We were only kidding!" They defended themselves, looking at each other with a hint of mischievousness in their eyes.

"Yeah, well. It wasn't very funny," Haruhi grumbled. She was beginning to get a headache.

Despite the ever-looming time of departure, the entire house seemed to be ablaze with excitement…for the most part.

Hours later, sometime in the early evening, Haruhi was alone again, reading (she'd promised herself she'd finish that book by the end of summer, but now it didn't look like it was going to happen). The others were dispersed around the house; it was a little chilly out, and looked like it was going to rain, so no one was swimming, and they were mostly downstairs, a few in their rooms. But with all the attention she'd been receiving, Haruhi wanted to be alone, even if it was just for a little while, and so told them she would join them all in an hour or so.

She'd only begun to loose herself in an unreal world when she faintly heard a knock on the door. She jolted, awakened from that world, and blinked; the knock came again. She sighed, and went to open the door.

"Uh…K-Kyoya…what are you doing here?"

He was silent for a moment; then, "Let's talk."

She hesitated for a mere moment before stepping aside to let him in. She left the door open, but he closed it nonchalantly, without blinking, swiftly. _I-I know I shouldn't be nervous…but last time he was here… _"What is it…you need to talk about?" Without answering her, in a flurry of arms and hands, she found herself pinned against the wall without even having a chance to realize what was happening. "K-Kyoya!"

He didn't seem to care, however. "Are you really going out with Tamaki?"

"Well, yeah…Ah! Kyoya, that hurts!"

His hold on her loosened slightly. "Why?" he asked softer.

"W-well…because I l-love him…" She looked into his eyes.

Disgust.

"That's impossible."

Hurt.

Pain.

"Kyoya…" she shook her head. "But what about you and Renge!?"

"She means nothing to me! I-" but before he could continue, the door swung open, and in walked Tamaki, with Renge behind him, almost in tears. Kyoya slowly dropped his hands, letting go of Haruhi.

Fear.

"Kyoya! How could you!? Haruhi, are you alright?"

She nodded, and finally moved towards Tamaki. "Renge…are you okay?"

The other girl didn't move.

Silence.

Finally, Tamaki grabbed Haruhi's hand and led her out of the room.

"…I thought you loved me," Renge whimpered.

"I never said anything of the like." She turned and ran down the hall; he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, smiled sadly and murmured, "I've lost."

Tears.

* * *

They hardly knew where they were going. He held onto her hand, she followed him. Bodies, people, doors, flowers, plants…She realized she was next to his car, held tightly in his arms, and she was holding him close to her as well.

"Sorry…" he held her with all his strength with one arm, while stroking her hair with his opposite hand.

"It's not your fault…"

"…Can I take you somewhere?" she could feel his heart pounding as he asked her this, and felt his nervousness spreading to her body. She nodded, and with a sigh of relief he told her he loved her.

"I…love you too…"

* * *

For a moment, they appeared to be heading into town, but soon, Tamaki took one turn and then another that Haruhi didn't know, and was soon unfamiliar with the surrounding area. She was almost afraid that he was taking her somewhere to kill her and dump her body off like in any murder mystery show, but somehow found confidence and trust in his smile.

Though it was faint, she could still detect the scent of gasoline.

She fell asleep thinking about Kyoya.

* * *

She awoke just as Tamaki stopped the car. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and looked out the windshield. The sky was as cloudy as it had been that afternoon, threatening rain; the only difference was that the Sun had sunk and was actually almost visible, and though it wouldn't set for a while longer, Haruhi guessed that was why Tamaki had taken her there: the view was absolutely gorgeous.

"Sorry," he said, turning the car off, "I was planning on taking you here a little later, but…"

"No, it's okay," she insisted, "I've completely forgotten about everything."

He seemed relieved at that.

And before she could figure out what was happening, she was once again in his arms, her lips being devoured by his. Their mouths were only closed for a minute before Tamaki opened his, and Haruhi complied, her arms tightening around his neck, pulling herself even closer. Her chest felt tight; his tongue invaded her mouth and she felt overpowered, so she tried to do what he was doing to her to him, and he let her. Inexperienced as she was, she caught on quick, and moved her tongue as he had done, until he took over again.

He began pressing even harder against her, slowly making her lay down. He lay on top of her, trying not to lay all of his weight against her, still kissing her. Her heart began to beat twice as fast, but she let him.

A moment later, he pulled away from her. "This might be the last time we can be alone for a while…"

_He wouldn't…_

"Even though we live sort of far away, I'm sure we could see each other sometimes…since our parents know each other," she said.

…_Would he?_

"Yeah. Maybe."

"Whatever you're thinking," she said, avoiding his eyes, "I don't care. We're here now, so…whatever you want." _I don't love Kyoya. I love Tamaki. And I'll prove it. _Her head hurt. Her heart pounded.

He looked bewildered. "I…what…?"

"I'm not stupid."

"If you…want…"he kissed her again. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she repeated without hesitation.

She didn't know what to expect after that. He began to kiss her again, and she felt anxious, so she began taking off his shirt. It took her a bit of struggling; as she brought it over his head, they broke apart for a moment, and in that moment, he was able to swiftly pull off her top before meshing their lips together again. Their clothes discarded, he began to caress her instinctively. Before long, his hands found their way to her back, to the back of her bra, which he swiftly undid, lifting her up slightly without letting his lips leave hers, lowering her again as soon as the article of clothing was removed.

**XXX**

His lips were soon distracted by her small breasts rather than her lips, however, and began sucking and nipping at them, leaving her mouth open to moan gently, basking in that small pleasure. She could already feel need growing inside of her, and briefly wondered if it was alright to be doing this, but pushed the thought out of her mind with determination.

Yet the anxiousness she was somehow able to feel under all of that _good_ was nowhere near enough to get her to take his pants off. She would wait for _him_. When he began to kiss her lips again, she realized that he was trying to put it off; she kissed him more feverishly.

When he broke away from her, he said, "…You're sure?"

"Go ahead," she encouraged him.

With that permission granted, he unbuttoned, unzipped her pants, sliding them off of her legs as she did the same to him. As she began pulling them down, her fingers accidentally brushed his manhood through his boxers. He gasped and she looked up at his face; the expression etched there led her to finger it carefully again, and the groan he let out led her to continue.

She was uncertain; she'd never done anything remotely like this before, but knew that pretty much anything she did _there_ would pleasure him, so she continued to rub his member through the material, until he moaned, breathing heavily, "H-Haruhi…boxers…off…" She blinked as the phrase registered in her mind, and she tugged his boxers off. Now she was genuinely getting turned on, as she wrapped her fingers around his member and almost teasingly moved her hands up and down, ever so slowly. He was _so_ hard; he found that it was slowly becoming harder to breathe as he continued moaning in pleasure, hardly noticing the sweat that was beginning to build on his skin, despite the relatively cool temperature. And just when he thought he couldn't hold it anymore, just when he thought he was going to come…

She stopped. And she kissed him. Tamaki inwardly groaned, and decided it was time he took control again, and once again pushed her so she was laying down on her back. He kissed her all the while, and as they both calmed down, his fingers traveled down to her underwear, slipping underneath the material and about to go into her when she broke apart from him and pleaded, "No. Just…go on."

"Kay," he replied, and kissed her on the forehead. As he moved his lips down to meet hers, he also removed the last piece of clothing on the girl. He broke apart with her only to say, "I think…this might hurt you a bit." She nodded, and he placed his lips on hers again before slowly sliding into her. At a certain point, she screamed softly into his mouth, digging her short fingernails into his arms in pain, and he kissed her more passionately to distract her from the pain she was feeling. She quieted down before she loosened her grip on him, and when she did that, he slowly released her lips.

He tried to speak, but couldn't, and instead found himself looking into her eyes. What he found there made him begin to slowly rock back and forth into her body. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes at first; it still hurt, after all. But as she got used to it, the air tight in her chest, she even began to rock her hips against his, slowly gaining speed, momentum. As their lower bodies sped up, matching each other in urgency, so did their breathing, and their moans came more frequently. Their chests rose and fell rapidly as they tried to catch up on breathing. She felt a rush of blood, and all at once was eager, happy, confused, insecure, yearning, angry, satisfied, dissatisfied, sad, pleased, excited, bored, in pleasure and in pain. These emotions and more rushed through her body as she reached her breaking point, screaming Tamaki's name as she felt her limbs go limp and she tried to catch her breath, shaking.

She vaguely remembered him crying out her name before lightly collapsing on top of her.

* * *

By the time the sun was setting, they were fully clothed once more, entangled in each others' arms, this time sitting upright, watching the spectacle going on before them in the sky. Haruhi was curled up on Tamaki's lap, her head against his chest, his arms around her, still feeling tired, her head still pounding. She tried not to think about what she'd just done and instead tried to concentrate on the explosion of color in the sky, but her thoughts kept going back to it. What had it even proven? Only that she'd been too rash in her anger and hurt, and made a decision that could potentially affect her for the rest of her life.

She loved him. But if she became pregnant, no amount of love would let her forgive him…or herself.

She was clinging to the end of his shirt. He asked her if she was ok.

"That was…my first time," she whispered.

"I see…" he stroked her hair, twirled his finger around a short lock, then pulled her closer. "Do you regret it?"

Haruhi was taken aback. "N-No…I…it was…it…you…"

Tamaki couldn't help but let out a small laugh, and Haruhi twisted around to glare at him. "Haha…sorry, but you're just so cute…!"

She smiled inwardly and it was silent for a few moments before she murmured, "How did this happen……?"

"Well, it's cloudy and dark today; it was like that even before the Sun set," he answered, "People usually choose night time to do…things like that, but doing them on a cloudy day is more common than you might think."

"Really…I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

By the time they returned home, it was well past ten at night. They tried to enter quietly, as to not awaken anyone (or let anyone know how exactly how late they'd returned, in case the subject came up the next morning), but the moment they set foot inside the house, they saw Mori and Hunny sitting on the couch, the glow of the television illuminating their faces.

"Ah. Haruhi. Tamaki."

"You're back!"

"Ah…" the couple froze.

"We were worried about you two!" the smaller boy exclaimed. "I mean, after what happened…"

"You mean with Kyoya?" Tamaki's face expressed a look of anger as he remembered the events of a few hours ago.

"He told you?" Haruhi asked.

Mori shook his head and Hunny answered, "Him? No. But Renge came to us in tears."

"Do the twins know about the situation?"

"Uh~ I don't think so. They've been holed up in their room since you two left. We've heard noises but…no one really wanted to know, so we didn't disturb them."

"Hm. You were right, Tamaki," Haruhi said, and he couldn't help returning her smile. "I'm going to go check on Renge. Night."

"Night!"

Tamaki kissed her on the cheek and she went upstairs.

"Tama-chan…" Hunny said as soon as she was out of sight, "What happened between you and Haru-chan?"

"What do you mean?" he laughed.

"She's different from before. So are you. But I don't know why."

"Really, Hunny, we just went on a date. I think we're all still a little shaken up about before, that's all."

"But, Tama-chan…!"

"I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow," he interrupted, and headed upstairs.

Hunny and Mori looked at each other and frowned.

* * *

"Renge…?" Haruhi knocked on her bedroom door before entering, "Are…are you okay?" She found the other girl lying on her stomach on their bed, face buried in her pillow. "Renge…" she walked over and touched her friend's shoulder.

She turned to Haruhi with a tear-stained face. "Haruhi…I…should hate you for captivating his heart more than I was able to."

"Renge…"

"But I don't. You're…you're my best friend," Renge sniffed, "And…I hate him…but I still love him…Am I making any sense?"

"Yeah," Haruhi smiled and sat at the edge of the bed.

"What should I do?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because," Renge smiled faintly, "You're smart, Haruhi. And I trust you."

"I think that…if this is making you so miserable, you should forget about Kyoya completely after we all leave here. There's only a few more days, right? Find someone else who genuinely makes you happy, someone you don't have to control to do what you want, and someone who truly loves you back."

"How am I supposed to know how someone else is feeling?"

Haruhi leaned back, her hands leaning behind her against the bed, and looked at the ceiling. "Well…you can't. But you have to learn how to trust, and learn _who _to trust. And…just because someone acts friendly towards or smiles at you, that doesn't mean they love you. Love…is something different for each person; that's something you have to figure out for yourself."

"Haruhi," Renge said, sitting up, "Can I…kiss you?"

Haruhi was astonished, "B-b-b-but I…you…I didn't mean-"

"No one has to know," the other girl shrugged.

"…Renge, does that mean…are you a…"

Renge shrugged again. "Women aren't as rigid with their sexuality as men are," she smiled, and kissed the smaller girl. Haruhi found herself being pressed down on a soft surface for the second time that day, and was at first quite rigid and stiff, whimpering against Renge's mouth in disapproval. After a minute or so, however, she gave up all forms of resistance, giving into the kiss, and almost enjoying the feel of that soft mouth on hers again. When Renge pulled away, Haruhi opened her eyes slowly, only then realizing that she'd closed them sometime during the kiss.

"Haruhi…will you…sleep with me tonight?"

"You mean…like…"

Renge nodded.

"I…Renge, I…"

"You can't," Renge finished for her, tilting her head a little to the right, "Because you already slept with Tamaki."

"Uh-! I…How did you-?"

"I can tell," she giggled, "You're so easy to read Haruhi. When you don't watch yourself, that is. …That's been more frequent as of late…just so you know. Anyway," she yawned, "You should go to bed now. I'm gonna go take a walk…but I'll be back soon. Night…"

"Yeah…night…be careful!" Haruhi called as the door slammed shut.

She slowly slipped into her pajamas and lay down under the covers as the first drops of rain hit the window pane. She pulled the blankets over her head and prayed it wouldn't thunder.

* * *

The next day she awoke to the house phone ringing; she was alone in the room and picked it up.

"Hello," she grumbled into the receiver, annoyed that she was awake when the Sun had hardly risen, as well as the fact that it had rung four times and no one else had picked up.

"_Bonjour~ Est-ce que Tamaki est là?_" came the other voice.

"…Huh?"

"_Ah…je suis son amie. Je m'appelle Éclair. Est-il là?_"

"…Excuse me?" Haruhi tried again.

"_Ohh…pardonez-moi. Iz Tamaki zere? My name iz Éclair. I am…how to zay…hiz girlfriend?"_

**Djf;laks I keep forgetting that Haruhi and Renge are supposed to be sharing a bed D: I think I always catch myself, but if not, I apologize for any inconsistency.**

**Also, sorry for it being half the length of the past several chapters. Gah D:**

**This wasn't supposed to have yuri. But then I watched an episode of "Bones" in which an artist was murdered and crushed by one of his car projects, fell in love with a certain quote (can you find it? XD ) and was inspired. Whoops.**

**Anyway, hope you liked this cliffhanger :D Ooooooh. I'll definitely update faster next time.**

**Probably.**

**Happy holidays, everyone!!**


	6. Silly Little Wounds

**HAPPY NEW YEAR~! :D I hope 2009 treats you all great –bows-**

**Hope everyone had a great holiday season! For xmas I got an iPod… -tears of joy- And the first song I legit bought- like, not from my CDs- was White Houses XD It's also the last song I listened to in 2008, and the first in 2009 LOL. I have trouble listening to it, though, because it's so sad. Ah, and that's where this chapter comes into play…**

**I again tried to include elements from the anime/manga in here, so I hope you enjoy it all!**

**White Houses**

**Silly Little Wounds**

_Maybe you were all faster than me  
We gave each other up so easily  
These silly little wounds will never mend  
I feel so far from where I've been  
So I go…and I will not be back here again  
I'm gone as the day is fading_

_On white houses  
I lied; wrote my injuries all in the dust;  
In my heart is the five of us  
In white houses_

Haruhi hung up the phone. Her hands were shaking; her mind was racing. Tears began to form at the edge of her eyes.

"Ohh…pardonez-moi. Iz Tamaki zere? My name iz Éclair. I am…how to zay…hiz girlfriend?"

"_You're…his what?" Haruhi choked into the receiver._

"Iz…zere a problem?"

"…"

"Mademoiselle? 'Ello?"

"_Sorry. Tamaki isn't here. But don't worry; I'll tell him that you called."_

"Oh! Zank you zo much! Merci beaucoup!"

"_Yeah. No problem."_

She couldn't believe it. Tamaki was cheating on her? No, he was cheating on this Éclair girl _with_ her. Haruhi began to cry.

"Fine," she mumbled, dragging the back of her hand across her eyes, wiping the tears away, "But he's not going to be the one who decides he's done with me. I'm the one who's going to leave _him_. I'm not going to be used any longer."

She began packing her bags, clothes first; she wished Renge was there to help her when she realized, had she even come back from her walk the previous night? _No, she's probably downstairs with everyone, having a _great_ time_, she thought bitterly, but shook the thought from her mind and continued to pack. She gently placed the picture frame for her father in between layers of clothes, to prevent it from breaking.

When she finished, she managed to get a hold of all of the bags, much better than she had on the day she'd gotten there. She took one last look at the room, blinked back another onset of tears, and left, clutching the glass rose Tamaki had given her in her hand.

* * *

Even before she got downstairs, Haruhi heard laughing and talking coming from the kitchen; they were probably eating dinner by now (though she'd gotten up early, it had taken her most of the day to pack all of those bags; especially since she'd been immobile for so long after she hung up the phone). She felt a surge of hate well up inside of her, but suppressed it. When she reached the bottom floor, she refused to look in the other room at them, but they noticed her.

"Haruhi! …Where are you going?" the twins called.

"Home. I'm leaving."

"Um~ No, Haru-chan," Hunny laughed, "We're leaving in three days. We still have time!"

His smiling face almost made her laugh_, "What was I thinking? Haha!"_, pretend she'd gotten the date confused, and returned her bags upstairs. She stood her ground when she saw a head of blonde hair much higher up than Hunny's.

"No. No, I'm leaving _now._"

"Haruhi? Why? What's wrong?" said blonde asked innocently.

"You…" Haruhi clenched her teeth and glared at him, "_You __**dare**_ ask me why?! Out of all the fucking people, I'd think _you'd _know why- oh, but I'll bet you thought I wouldn't find out, so you're still fucking _playing dumb_!"

"Wh…Haruhi, calm down! What are you talking about?"

Haruhi closed her eyes. "Your girlfriend," she whispered; then her eyes snapped open, "I'm talking about your goddamn girlfriend!"

The house was deathly quiet.

"T…Tamaki?" Hunny ventured.

Kaoru grasped Hikaru's hand.

"Haruhi…I don't understand…_You're_ my girlfriend…aren't you?"

"That's what I thought," she mumbled, "But I guess not anymore," Haruhi turned away and began walking towards the door. "By the way," Haruhi turned her head, "_Éclair _wants you to call her back." And with that she slammed the rose onto the table; it shattered into pieces.

"Éclair…" Tamaki mumbled, trying to think, even though he was shaking.

"What the hell's going on?" Hikaru asked him, Kaoru still clutching his hand.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, _mon ami_…Wait, that must be it!" Tamaki ran to the door, and the others followed, albeit slower. "Haruhi, wait!" he called. She didn't respond. "Haruhi, stop!"

"Look, just give it up already, okay? I'm not going to be used any longer; I told you before: I'm not stupid. I'm not going to listen to your lies!"

"Haruhi, I swear, you've got to listen to me! I'm not lying, I know…Renge…Where's Renge, she can vouch for me! Haruhi, you-"

Haruhi turned, glaring, and slapped him across the face. "I'm. Not. Stupid. I'm not someone you can just use and then leave. So everything that happened between us- just forget it. It never happened. And I know you must've done all kinds of shit with _her_, but I'd appreciate it if you had the decency to at least not tell my father. So just _stay the fuck away from me_. This is the bus stop. The last bus of the day will be here in five minutes and then we'll never have to see each other again."

"But-!"

"_I'm never going to see you again!_" she cried, eyes closed to keep back the tears; she didn't want to admit that she didn't want this, that it was hurting her, too.

Tamaki took several steps backwards, then turned and ran to the others. "Where's Renge?"

"Why do you need her?" Kaoru asked.

"I can't explain. It's…she's French. Haruhi will believe her. I have to find her immed- Kyoya. Has anyone seen _him_?"

"Neither of them came downstairs this morning," Hunny informed him, worry apparent in his large eyes.

Tamaki ran back up the sidewalk, almost crashed into the blindingly white fence, past the grass, the flowers, the rose bushes, inside, up the stairs and down the hallway. He checked in every room; no one. He raced back down the stairs, searched the entire first floor; still nothing. He finally sprinted out back; no one was in the pool; he checked the small building in the back and finally found the glasses-wearing boy, looking through the refrigerator.

"Kyoya!" Tamaki exclaimed.

"T-Tamaki…" Kyoya re-adjusted his glasses, somewhat embarrassed and somewhat nervous. "What are you-?"

"Kyoya, where's Renge? I can't find her; you must know where she is, right? Where is she, Kyoya?"

"H-How should I know? I mean after yester-"

"Goddamn it!" Tamaki cried.

"Wait…Tamaki…I still have her cell phone number stored in mine," Kyoya held out his phone to the other boy.

"Thank you, Kyoya," Tamaki said as calmly as he could, waiting for Renge to pick up her phone, "Come on…answer, damnit! She must think it's you. And my phone is upstairs…" Tamaki looked at Kyoya.

"Why do you need her so badly? What's wrong?"

"It's…complicated, Haruhi won't believe me, so I need Renge to talk to her."

"What's wrong with Haruhi?" Kyoya asked, his attention having been caught.

"Oh _god_, Kyoya," tears began to run slowly down Tamaki's face, "It's just a misunderstanding…but if I can't get through to her…Kyoya…I'm never going to see her again!"

Kyoya grabbed Tamaki's arm and, running, dragged him behind him as he ran to the front of the house. "You and the others split up and find Renge. I'll make sure Haruhi stays here 'till you find her."

"Thanks, Kyoya," Tamaki smiled. "You're…I'm sorry."

"What the hell are _you_ apologizing for?" Kyoya chuckled. "Think of this as _my_ apology to you…to you both."

When they reached the others, several things happened at once.

They saw Renge walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, about ten houses down in the direction the bus would take Haruhi, looking like she'd spent the entire night outside (which she probably had, they thought).

Everyone began talking at once, things like, "We tried talking to her!", "I tried to stop her!", "We couldn't help it!", "She protested the entire time you were gone- that's how long we tried, I swear!" reached their ears; even Mori was speaking.

And they saw the bus at the stop, immobile just long enough for them to see it before it slowly began to pull away.

"Haruhi!"

"Renge!"

"Fuck _off_, Kyoya, I'm never speaking to you again!" Renge called back.

"Shut up and listen!" he yelled back to her, "We need you to talk to Haruhi; she just left!"

"Someone has to stop the bus!"

"Forget it; she's already gone," Tamaki said softly, sadly.

"What? No!" Kaoru said, "Anyone could catch up with it at this point; go!"

"…"

"Goddamn it, Tono, you really are a fucking idiot!" Hikaru cried, pushed Tamaki out of his way and began running in the road in the direction of the bus.

"Hikaru!"

He'd almost reached the bus when Renge started crossing the road.

At the same time, a car came down the road.

Renge didn't notice it.

"Eeeek!" she screeched as it neared her. The driver swerved, but the side of the vehicle connected with Hikaru's right side; he'd been too focused on reaching the bus to even notice the car.

"_HIKARU!!_" Kaoru screamed as his brother hit the asphalt. He ran down the street after him as Renge continued to screech and the others, trying not to panic, called the police and a hospital.

"Hikaru! Hikaru!" Kaoru threw himself down on his knees next to his brother, who was currently trying to sit up. "No- don't- lie back down, you're hurt! Hikaru…are you okay?"

"I'm better than that fucking driver is going to be after_ I _catch him…Stupid asshole just drove off!"

"Hi_ka_ru!"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," he smiled, then winced, "Well…I can't move my right arm…Damnit…I think it's broken…and I've probably got some cuts but…Oh, god, Kaoru, don't cry! I think I'll live!"

"Hi-Hikaru," Kaoru hiccupped, "I…I was so-so scared! I t-thought-"

"C'mon, Kaoru, I broke my arm and I'm not even crying. Hm?" he cupped the side of his brother's face with his left hand. Kaoru grabbed his hand with both of his and sniffed; Hikaru sighed.

Renge had managed to make it to the sidewalk next to them before her legs failed her; she just sat there, shaking violently.

* * *

After relieving herself of all of her luggage, spreading it out on the large seat, Haruhi held her head in her hands. _What the hell…that was nothing like me. I don't even feel like myself. Have I changed that much over an entire summer? I didn't even try to listen to him but…no one's trying to come after me. No one even came to my room to check on me the entire day today. So that's it? It's that simple?_

She looked back out the window; she couldn't see anyone, but she saw the house where they'd stayed together so many weeks. After everything…maybe she _had_ changed. She remembered how Hikaru and Kaoru had helped her drag her bags to the house, how the others, already there, were causing a fuss, how they'd all gotten drunk and ended up kissing everyone else, how they'd all gone shopping, and then…

She looked back one last time at the house. It was still so blindingly white, even as the Sun began it's decent in the sky (she tried not to think about the same time the previous day). Even if she was able to forget Tamaki, she'd never be able to forget that house. _But I'll never go back…_she promised herself.

"Enjoy the rest of your summer, guys," she whispered, "I at least owe you that wish."

Haruhi cried again, sobbing softly, and prayed her heart would stay intact.

* * *

Haruhi got home early the next day, and swore that she would never take the bus at night again; it really was a terrifying experience. She'd only been inside long enough to drop all of her bags on the floor and collapse on the couch before her father walked in the door, carrying almost the same amount of bags as she had been.

"H-Haruhi? How long have you been here?"

"Thirty seconds."

Ranka stared at her. "Um. But shouldn't you have come back the day after tomorrow?"

"I…decided to come home a little early."

"Ah." Ranka said, setting his bags down by his daughter's and going to sit next to her. "So tell me, did you have fun? Did you like it? Because- well, I don't mean to pressure you, but we were all thinking of going on another trip next summer and renting out the same place for you kids!"

"Dad," Haruhi looked at him, "Aren't I old enough to stay here by myself?"

"For a few days maybe, but we'll be gone for about two months! …Why, Haruhi? Didn't you get along with everyone?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Haruhi mumbled, almost inaudibly. "I don't like change," she said louder. She got up and went to her room; Ranka looked after her, confused.

* * *

About a month later, Haruhi got an e-mail from Renge, which she found odd since she'd never given anyone her e-mail address, but at the same time, wondered why, if she was e-mailing her now, why she hadn't done it sooner. In any case, it read:

_Haruhi,_

_First of all, I suppose I should explain how I got your e-mail. I asked _my_ dad for _your_ dad's e-mail address, and asked your dad for _yours_- but I told him not to tell you. Sorry about that; I sort of wanted it to be a surprise, so…surprise?_

_How have you been? I'm sorry I never got to say good-bye to you. You can't imagine how terrible I feel about that, even though it's kinda stupid, huh? But that night, Haruhi, I swear, I went on a walk like I told you, but as I thought more and more about what you said…well, I just needed to be by myself for a while. And I mean, I'd already walked all the way into town anyway, so I used my dad's credit card (and trust me, I was in _so_ much trouble! That's…kind of why it took me so long to contact you) to rent a hotel room for a night. I did a lot of thinking there- I know, surprise, surprise- but I guess I'll talk to you about that some other time. To be honest, I'd like to do it in person._

_But I need to tell you what happened after you left. And I have to ask you to keep reading the whole way through; please? For me? Yes? Okay, good._

_Let's see…I'd just come back, probably at the exact time you got on the bus, and everyone was in a panic. I was on the other side of the road, so I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but everyone else was in a terrible panic. The boys were yelling and…well anyway, one of the twins…I'm pretty sure it was Hikaru…wait, no, Kaoru…wait…ok his hair was going that way, so…ok, it was Hikaru for sure, he took after the bus- let me tell you, that boy can run! I started to cross the street to find out what was going on and…the next part is hard to remember, but basically, a car came at me, swerved to miss me, but hit Hikaru._

Haruhi gasped. "Oh my god…It's all my fault, if he hadn't gone after me he-!" Lost for words, she continued to read:

_It was only the side of the car that hit him, so he went down, but he only broke his arm. He'll still be in a cast for a while longer, so if you want their e-mail, you'll just be talking to Kaoru anyway (unless he can type with his right arm as Hikaru types with his left, functioning as if they belonged to the same person, but that wouldn't surprise me, of course)…Oh, and did I mention how _cute_ he was, worrying over his brother like that!? I'm telling you, brotherly love…! But I digress._

_The police and ambulance came…I think they caught the driver (we were all pretty pissed; it was hit and run, can you believe it!?). Everyone was in a huge panic- except Tamaki. He'd gone back inside. Haruhi…I'm pretty sure he was too upset about you leaving to be upset about Hikaru. So after the twins went to the hospital, even though it was only Hikaru that was hurt, and the rest of us calmed down, I went to go talk to Tamaki- well, because everyone said that he'd been looking for me just before all of that had happened. He even sought out Kyoya! I remember, I was pretty upset that you'd left, like, I couldn't understand it at all! But then he told me what had happened._

_Haruhi. You _need_ to know this. The girl that called you that morning, Éclair, _wasn't_ Tamaki's girlfriend, she was just his friend who, as it turns out, was trying to figure out their summer homework. Yes, she's wanted to go out with him for ages now, but he doesn't like her back. Please- before you get mad and decide not to believe me, let me explain; I'm French, so I know this is true and not made up._

_I don't know what _exactly_ Éclair said to you, but Tamaki says she hasn't lived in Japan long, so she doesn't know Japanese very well. I'm guessing she said something like, _"Je suis une amie de Tamaki"_? And then when you didn't understand her she tried to translate and said, _"I am Tamaki's girlfriend_"? Or something along those lines? Let me explain._

_In French, "(un) ami" and "(une) amie" both mean friend. They're pronounced the same, too (not including the un/une), so unless it's written or you definitely know the context, it's hard to tell which one it is when spoken. But that's not too important, so I'll go on. The difference is that the first one is used for a guy friend, like, for example, if you were talking about Mori…Or Hunny…or Kyoya…or Hikaru or Kaoru. The second is used for a female friend, as if you were talking about me. Haruhi, don't you see? She wasn't saying she was his _girl_friend, she was saying that she was a friend of his and in addition, that she was female! It's…it's kind of complicated, but do you understand?_

_I'm…sorry, really, about all of this. It's very much my fault; if I'd stayed the night, I would've been there to explain it before you'd even been able to hang up the phone. Even if I'd come back earlier, I could have explained it to you…of course, I don't blame you for not believing Tamaki, because I mean, in that kind of a situation, who would, really? I'm just sorry that I wasn't there to prevent all of this, because god knows, you must have cried like mad over this, and if only I'd known that…god, Haruhi, I'm sorry._

_Anyway, let me know who's e-mail addresses you want. I have everyone's…even Kyoya's. After everything that happened…well, we're not the best of friends, but we do communicate via e-mail. So…whoever you want. You know, Mori's more talkative than in person; I got a three-line response from him! Haha…_

…_I really think you should talk to Tamaki. I know for a fact that he's not mad at you. So, I'm not going to force you, and you know I'll even keep your contact information withheld from him if you ask me to, and I'm sure everyone else would, too. Just consider it. Please._

_Hoping to hear from you soon!_

_~Renge_

Haruhi read and re-read the e-mail several times. She couldn't believe it- Hikaru had broken his arm; god, he'd gotten _hit _by a_ car_!- and Renge and Kyoya weren't on speaking terms when she'd last seen them, but they were suddenly friends again? And Tamaki…

Tamaki hadn't been lying.

About _anything_.

_How am I supposed to face him now, though? _She thought. A hundred times she tried to play it out in her head, but in the end, couldn't make herself ask for his e-mail address from Renge.

She took a deep breath and wrote:

_Renge,_

_Thanks so much for e-mailing me; I was trying to think of how to contact you, it just never occurred to me to ask my dad. I just haven't been thinking clearly since late June/early July, I suppose._

_And also…thank you for telling me about everything that happened. Really…I'm…still a little in shock about it all, to tell the truth- mostly about Hikaru, actually. To be honest, I looked back to see if anyone was chasing after me or something, but I didn't see anything, so I guess that was right before he took off._

_Also, it's in no way your fault that any of this happened. Please don't blame yourself, okay? Honestly. I…if this had happened in the beginning of the summer, I know that I would have just asked him about it, I mean, it was obvious she hardly knew Japanese, but…I guess I really _have _changed._

_And about Tamaki…god, Renge, after everything that happened, I really don't think I can speak to him…at least not for a while. I just can't bring myself to do it. Believe me, I want to but…I just can't. You're completely right, but…I don't know. So give me everyone else's e-mail addresses, but not his just yet. I need to organize my thoughts first._

_Well, on another note, how have you been since we last saw each other? I guess you're back in school; so am I, and it's really not fun. Even with everything that happened the last few days of vacation (or well, the vacation with you guys; I still had two weeks after that before school started), I think I might choose that over being in school. I mean, the people there. Have I ever told you how much I hate our student body? It makes me wish the summer had never ended, that we were still in that summer house together…_

_Anyway, enough of that. Sorry my e-mail is so much shorter than yours…But I'll talk to you soon!_

_Haruhi_

* * *

Over the next few months, Haruhi continued to e-mail everyone back and forth. Hikaru eventually got his cast off- he teased her enough about the cause of it, though she didn't find it very amusing. Hunny and Mori were always doing some kind of preparation for their senior year, whether it be something for the yearbook or applying to colleges. She and Renge e-mailed each other almost every day and called each other very often- more often than the boys did, anyway, though on New Year's she had four calls coming in at once at the stroke of midnight from them all (four because obviously, Hikaru and Kaoru were calling together, and since they were cousins and spending New Year's together, so were Mori and Hunny).

They kept it between themselves, but through Kyoya, Haruhi kept up with pretty much everything Tamaki was doing. Haruhi knew that Kyoya was only doing it because he still had feelings for her, and she appreciated that, but it was only the results that mattered, not the reasons. Tamaki was apparently tutoring Éclair in Japanese- massively- and though she continued to flirt with him, he refused to go out with her. According to Kyoya, every time Éclair made a move, he would tell her that he was waiting for someone else.

Every time she found out something like this, Haruhi was happy, and at times considered e-mailing him, but never could find the resolve. She'd hope that one of her friends would go against their word and give him her e-mail address, but they never did. Haruhi forgave him a million times in her mind, thought she wondered what for, as he had never done anything wrong, so she apologized a million and one times, and hoped that somehow, the feeling reached him and he would also forgive her.

Soon, it was May, and Ranka was making plans with Haruhi's friends' parents for the summer. He again asked Haruhi if she'd changed her mind and wanted to spend the time with the others in that white summer house.

Haruhi thought for a moment. "I can't go back there, dad. I'm sorry."

Ranka sighed. "I thought you'd say that. In that case, you'll be staying with one of my other friends; he has a daughter about your age, I think her name is Mei. You can work for him a bit, make some extra money? How does that sound?"

"Fine."

* * *

After that summer passed, Haruhi learned about it immediately. There wasn't much for anyone to say, though; Mori and Hunny had left earlier than everyone else because they had college to attend. Everyone else was nearly the same as last year, but according to Renge, "it was as if something was missing…We all got along fine, of course, but there was just a little bit less interaction than last year. Of course, the twins locked themselves in their room, sometimes for an entire day, and this was more frequent than last year as well. And the amount of times they brought alcohol home. I swear, I have no idea how they get their hands on that stuff!"

As for Tamaki…According to Kyoya, he'd been almost as happy and perky as the previous year, just like everyone else said, but Kyoya said that most of it had been an act. "He was extremely disappointed you didn't come, Haruhi. But then, I think we all were," he wrote.

After that, Kyoya wrote to her less and less frequently, having enough of his own senior matters to take care of, just as Hunny and Mori had the previous year. Soon, whereas the e-mails used to come every week, they'd come every two weeks, then every month, then every few months…

* * *

By the time she entered college to study law, just like she'd always dreamed, she hardly e-mailed Kyoya, Mori and Hunny besides holidays and birthdays, and though she talked to Renge and the twins a bit more frequently, it still wasn't more often than every month. They hardly called each other, either; New Year's was often the only time.

She'd completely lost any chance she had of reconnecting with Tamaki.

She again marveled at how quickly all of their friendships had broken apart, and wondered if they all felt the same kind of pain that she did when _they_ thought about the others that had once meant the world to them.

**So…This reminds me of a story I read in middle school of this girl who'd always get on the same line at a store to see this bagging boy she liked, but one time she didn't go, and eventually they drifted apart, and the next time they saw each other was like a year later, and they each had a date with them…**

**So fear not! There will be one more chapter; an epilogue, if you will. It'll be pretty short, though, but I hope you've enjoyed this story thus far, and remember, I will be hardcore revising every chapter shortly after I finish the story…!**

**Have I mentioned how much I love reviews? XD**


	7. Remember Me

**Aiight, guys. Here's the last chapter; an epilogue, if you will. So please enjoy, and feel free to re-read the entire story at a later date because like I said, I'll probably be editing this soon (and possibly re-writing it over the summer? If I do, a new story will be submitted. I think I love it so much that I wanna do it over lmao).**

**As a side note, the second "season" of Ouran is out. Feel free to go out and buy it :D**

**White Houses**

**Remember Me**

_And you, maybe you'll remember me  
What I gave is yours to keep  
In white houses_

The young woman gripped her briefcase-like suitcase tightly, reassuring herself that this _had_ to be done. The bus pulled to a halt; she hesitated for a moment before rising and getting off. She looked around her; it was all so familiar. She breathed deeply, her shoulder-length, dark brown hair blowing in the breeze- yes, even the scent, the _taste_ of the air was the same. She proceeded to walk down the sidewalk.

_Hmm…Should be somewhere around- Ah! Here it is!_ She thought, stopping in front of her destination. Before her stood a white fence, so clean and perfectly white that it almost blinded her, and beyond that, a house of the same nature, if not even more blinding. She opened the gate, gathered her bearings and was about to enter the yard when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, _mademoiselle_, I-"

"EEEEK!" she screeched, and turned, hitting the unsuspecting man in the side of his head with her suitcase, sending him crashing to the ground.

* * *

"R-really, I'm terribly sorry about that," the young woman apologized as she set the cup of tea down in front of the young man. They were seated at the kotatsu inside the house- _I guess _everything_ changes; when did _this_ get here? _"I'm sorry, I was too panicked to really realize what you were saying before; could you explain again?" she bowed, embarrassed.

"It's no problem. Really, I don't know what I was thinking; probably would've done the same thing in your situation," he laughed, "I thought you might be the landlady; I was actually just passing by, but I was planning to rent this place out sometime over the next few weeks. Usually I call her up, but…well, to tell the truth, I've never seen her in person, and I've never known anyone else to rent this place out for…a while now, so I thought I'd just save time by speaking to her then but well…obviously, it wasn't her."

"This is the first time I've been here in years, myself," the woman explained, "I…guess it was just an impulse. Or maybe I just need to figure some things out." She sipped her tea. "Do you mean that you rent this house every summer?

"Yeah. It started with me and my friends, but…well, we don't really talk much anymore, unfortunately. So they don't come anymore, I guess. I even brought in this kotatsu; aren't these things just the best?!" he beamed at her.

"…But at least you get some time with your family without your friends interfering."

"My…?"

"Wife and kids? They must love the pool."

"Wife and-? Oh. Oh no," he laughed, "No, I'm not married. Do I really look that old?"

"I-I'm sorry!" she exclaimed and bowed repeatedly.

"No, no, it's okay," he continued to laugh.

"I'm sorry, I just thought," she blushed and averted her eyes, "Well, you seem very kind and…" she coughed, "Attractive. Ahem. I just assumed-"

"Ah, no," he smiled at her, but she saw a bit of sadness hidden there, "In fact, I haven't dated anyone since high school."

"Really? You must've broken many girls' hearts."

"Just one, I'm afraid," he smiled that same smile at her again, and she began to feel uncomfortable.

_He seems so familiar…but…he's a foreigner…Just look at that hair! Then again, he speaks perfect Japanese, though I couldn't understand that one thing he said just before I...er…hit him…_

"Are you alright? Your face is turning red…" he broke her from her thoughts.

"Um! I'm sorry, I'll be right back!" she exclaimed and ran upstairs to the bathroom. When she got there, she locked the door, and turned to the mirror, staring herself down. _I know him…I definitely know him…but my god, why can't I remember him!? It's like I've erased him from my memory…and me from his, or else he would've recognized me. I need to know who he is._

* * *

"Thank you for inviting me to dinner!"

"Ah…it's no problem. It's the least I could do for hitting you like that; the side of your face will probably be all bruised tomorrow."

"I already told you, it's no problem," he smiled, placing a finger on her lips, and she blushed again. "But if I can get a fantastic meal like this out of it? Well then, I suppose I can be injured."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a drama king."

"Really?" he laughed, sitting at the table, "You know, I _have_ been called a King before…" he flashed her a smile.

"Probably the King of Idiots," she chuckled.

"Hey now! That's…" he coughed, "Sort of true."

"Really." They ate in silence for a few minutes before she pushed back her chair. "Please, continue eating; don't mind me."

"Is everything alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Oh- yes! I just don't eat much. I mean, I don't have an eating problem, I just…never eat all that much. Don't worry, it's nothing you've done, just…enjoy your meal!"

"…Alright…" he said slowly and after staring at her for a few moments, continued eating.

_And just why the hell am I getting so nervous?_

* * *

"Again, thank you for dinner. You really didn't have to."

"Again, I insist, and again, I apologize for hurting you."

"Again, it wasn't your fault."

"…Okay, can we stop this?"

"…Right. Alright then…I guess I'll be off," he said, opening the door, but hesitated. He turned to the young woman and smiled. "Thank you again, and good evening, _mademoiselle_," he said softly before leaning down and kissing her even more softly on the lips for a mere second. Before she could even speak, he turned, and was gone.

"He…He…"

"_-__but at least it's a meeting we'll never forget!"_

"_I'm gonna go for a swim. Come out, if you like."_

"_You little devils! Step away from Haruhi!"_

"_Honestly, you're like an over protective father."_

"_You ok? You look a bit out of it."_

"…_FUCK!"_

"_-maybe you should have stayed sober."_

"_-that might be fun!"_

"_You like him."_

"…_I bought you something…"_

"_No one's…ever gotten me anything like this before. It's so beautiful. I just…I don't know what to say."_

"_I really like you, Haruhi."_

"_Kyoya! How could you!?"_

"_I…love you too…"_

"…_whatever you want."_

"_-you're just so cute…!"_

"_-I'll bet you thought I wouldn't find out!"_

**_"I'm never going to see you again!"_**

"…Oh my fucking god." Haruhi held onto the door for support. _My god, no…I can't just let him walk away…I'm not going to loose him again, not after all of this. I need to move…_ Just as he turned past the fence, she finally got her legs to work again, and ran after him. "Tamaki!!" she cried as she neared him. He turned around as she went crashing into him, latching her arms around him; he stumbled backwards a few steps but didn't fall, and though he was confused, wrapped his arms around her as well.

"Sorry…how-?"

"Tamaki! Tamaki, do you recognize me now?" she asked, pulling her shoulder-length hair up, letting the ends fall around her face, making her appear as if she had short hair.

"Ha…Har…It…" he lost his voice for a moment. He swallowed, and tried again, softer. "Haruhi? …Really?"

"_Oui_," she smiled, tears running down her face. "Oh _god_, Tamaki, how long I've wanted to see you again- I need to tell you how sor-" she was stopped mid-sentence as Tamaki kissed her on the lips again, holding her even closer. Forgetting her apology of a moment ago, she also wrapped her arms around him again, and held him as close as she could. It was only reluctantly that they stopped and pulled apart. "Tamaki…I'm so sorry- for that day…I was too hasty, I didn't listen to you and I should have at least done that- I don't know what was wrong with me, I-"

"Shhhh," he soothed her, with his finger over her lips. "I forgive you. I forgave you even before you left. The only thing I ask is that you don't apologize anymore. Kay?"

Haruhi nodded, and he moved his finger. "Tamaki…" she said, and began to cry.

"And no crying, either," he added, wiping her tears away.

"'Kay," she sniffed. "I just…oh, Tamaki!"

They stood there for a while, just holding each other; her face buried in his chest, his hand stroking her hair. It began to drizzle, but they took no notice until the clouds lingering in the sky burst and it began to rain harder.

"If you'd like…you can come back inside. At least, until the rain clears up," Haruhi invited quietly.

"It'll be dark by then," Tamaki said slowly.

"Are you saying something would happen…between us?" she searched his eyes, "Well, it's not like it'd make a difference. I hear, as far as things like _that_ are concerned, a cloudy day is the same as the darkest night," she smiled.

"Really," he laughed, and took her hand. "I wasn't insinuating anything of the like."

"Yeah right," she mumbled.

"Haruhi…? That glass rose I got you- do you remember it?"

"Well…yeah," she blushed, embarrassed by all of the memories concerning it.

"I…I got it fixed. Just in case I ever ran into you again. It's in the house, in a small glass case upstairs."

"Idiot!" Haruhi exclaimed, hitting him on the head, "How did you know you'd be the only one to rent the place out? What if someone came along and stole it or something? Or broke…it…" What she said registered in her mind, but Tamaki just laughed. Haruhi, the sad feeling lingering, said slowly, "Hey…let's not be the only ones with a happy ending. Let's call everyone else up tonight…we can all get together again."

"Yeah. That would be fun," he replied, suddenly serious as well.

"Mmm."

"…Haruhi."

"Yeah?" she looked up at him.

"Do you think…maybe…we could try again? Pick up where we left off?"

"Can we take it one day at a time?" she suggested, albeit sadly.

"Yeah," he swallowed, and she kissed him again.

**Okay…That was the end forever. I'm sad I couldn't bring any of the other characters back but…that's life. And I know I kinda stole the kiss/memory thing from Code Geass R2, but seriously, I didn't even realize it till I had it written down. Also, Haruhi's last line is from Avenue Q. It just fit, kay?**

**I may be doing fanart for this…possibly. So you may wanna check my DA (KibaInuzuka314) from time to time :D**

**Thank you all so much for reading and sticking with me until the end!! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope I'll see you next time I write! –bows-**


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